22 Apr What Should You and Your Senior Understand about Covid-19?
Because your senior is witnessing a global pandemic right now, she may be experiencing a great deal of stress. Knowing as much as she can about how the novel coronavirus spreads and what she can do to stop it in her own home can be empowering for your senior. Here’s what you both should know about the novel coronavirus, how it spreads, and what can be done.
The Virus Spreads from Person to Person
The coronavirus spreads very easily from one person to another. This usually happens when people are in close contact with one another. This is the main reason that social distancing is being recommended so stringently. Remaining farther away than six feet from other people helps to lower the odds that your senior will be in contact with another person’s respiratory droplets.
People Often Don’t Experience Symptoms Right Away
Another problem that people are experiencing with the coronavirus is that they may have been exposed to the virus itself without having symptoms for as long as two weeks. Once they develop the illness, called Covid-19, they know that they possibly infected other people. During that time when infected people are asymptomatic, they can still pass the virus on to other people.
The Virus Lives Quite a While on Surfaces
Most viruses don’t live for a very long time on surfaces. The novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is a very stable virus that can last for quite a while on surfaces. That means that if someone who is sick touches a handrail, those germs can infect anyone else who touches that handrail afterward. This is a big problem and a major reason that the virus spreads so quickly.
There Are Things Your Senior Can Do
As contagious as the coronavirus is, there are things that your elderly family member can do to avoid it. Hand washing is incredibly effective, especially if your senior is washing her hands often. Your senior should avoid touching her face, particularly if she hasn’t washed her hands since touching other things. Cleaning and disinfecting items that she touches often is also important.
Your senior may need some extra help keeping up with all of the cleaning and disinfecting that she needs to be doing right now. Home care providers can make light work of that and help your senior to feel more confident that she’s doing what she can to kill germs before they infect her.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering home care in Fairwood, WA please contact the caring staff at Care To Stay Home – Spokane today at (509) 340-1359.