What should we do to prevent the spread of COVID-19?

According to various sources such as the WHO, Swiss federal government and the UK’s NHS, I managed to compile the most important habits to adopt during this crisis:

• Everyone must stay at home! This is to help stop the virus from spreading, simply put: less contact = lesser risk of contagion. 
• Wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, although nothing is stoping you from washing them a bit longer than just 20.
• You should only leave the house for very limited purposes: such as shopping for basic necessities such as food and doing daily exercise (which you can also do at home).
• Traveling is for work purposes, but only where you cannot work from home. That is if you are an essential worker such as a policeman, a firefighter e.t.c. 
• Even when doing these activities and being outside, you should minimize time spent outside of the home and ensure you are 2 metres apart from anyone outside of your household.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze and preferably wear a mask in public.
• Put used tissues in the bin immediately and wash your hands, do not keep them in your pocket and then shake someones hand.
• Do not touch your face if your hands are not clean!!!

These are just a few “effective” methods in helping to stop the spread of the virus. I will be discussing in a later posts how we determine the methods to be “effective” or “ineffective”.

Food for thought

• Are these measures really necessary?
• How do people determine what actually works and what doesn’t?
• Why do we sometimes see differences in how countries impose these preventive methods?
• Should we really take these as facts?

1. GOV.UK, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do/coronavirus-outbreak-faqs-what-you-can-and-cant-do [Accessed 24 Apr. 2020].
2. GOV.CH, https://www.bag.admin.ch/bag/fr/home/krankheiten/ausbrueche-epidemien-pandemien/aktuelle-ausbrueche-epidemien/novel-cov.html [Accessed 24 Apr. 2020].
3. nhs.uk, Coronavirus (COVID-19). [online] Available at: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/#prevention [Accessed 24 Apr. 2020]. ‌