Have you watched the movie Contagion? If not, now would be a good time to watch it. Barring a few commercial elements, Contagion did get the gist of a viral pandemic spot on. When we first heard about a novel strain of the Coronavirus having appeared in China and causing severe infection in the Chinese people, we probably didn’t think too much of it. A few months later, many countries across the world are shutting down and trying to get the spread under control. Many lives have been lost, healthcare professionals across the world are turning their blood into sweat to provide the best possible care they can to those infected with Covid-19. It is now official that this is a pandemic that needs all of humanity to cooperate and work together to beat.
If you’re in India and if you are worried about the health and safety of yourself and those around you, this article is something that could be of help. We’re not doctors or healthcare professionals, we cannot give you medical advice. But we can help you be aware of what’s happening and how best to stay on top of the current situation.
#1 Social Distancing WILL HELP
You could be a young healthy individual, so even if you do contract the virus, you will make it through most probably. However, you could pass it on to someone with weak immunity, or the elderly or someone who cannot afford good healthcare. Breaking the chain of spread will help reduce the number of infected patients drastically. Do your part, stay home, provide whatever help you can from your home. Give your domestic staff paid leave and maybe give them groceries to survive the coming lockdown.
#2 Panic Does Not Help
Haste makes waste – that proverb couldn’t be more appropriate now. When staying in, we tend to watch too much news, read too many forwards and stress ourselves to a point of madness. Let’s not forget that mental health is as important as our physical health right now. Keeping yourself calm will help give more clarity to the situation at hand. Stay away from regular news, subscribe to updates only from established institutions like the WHO, your state and central govt. And your regular doctors.
#3 Keep Yourself Healthy
Don’t look at this as a vacation at home. Use your time well. Exercise every day, eat well, take vitamin supplements. This is your chance to bond with family, heal yourself and get a fresh start. As per the studies conducted by doctors at WHO, most healthy people get it only as a mild infection. Which means you are dependent on your immunity to fight it out for you. If you’ve enjoyed smoking, now would be the best time to quit. And we know you already know it, but wash your hands A LOT.
#4 Set Up A Plan
If you or one of your family members get infected, you should have a plan ready. This is inevitable. Experts say that everyone will get it at some point and the human race as a whole will then develop the antibodies needed to fight this out. At its very base, this is another application of “survival of the fittest theory”. Have everything ready, from insurance papers to means to survive while you will be isolated. This is paramount.
#5 Make Sanitation A Part Of Your Life
If you haven’t developed that habit already, now would be a good time to incorporate sanitation routines into your daily life. Wash hands regularly, disinfect surfaces in and around your home, have a protocol set up while collecting packages delivered to you, have a disinfection protocol for stepping in and out of your house each time – you will find countless resources online to keep yourself safe and limit exposure to potential pathogens that you could be exposed to on a daily level.
We Can Fight This
Staying hopeful while also being aware of the reality of the situation is the best way out. Researches, biologists, healthcare professionals – everyone around the world is burning the midnight oil to come up with a cure for Covid-19. We may have more deaths, more people might get infected, but if you stay at home and follow instructions by WHO and your government, we have a solid chance to beat this with least number of casualties.
Every 100 years or so, pandemics have been known to wreak havoc amongst humans. This too will be no different. But this time, we have much more technology, information and medical skill at hand and our chances of fighting this effectively are much higher than when Spanish influenza or the bubonic plague struck. Stay positive, stay healthy and stay responsible. This will be over soon.
Team Guarented wishes the very best to everyone out there.