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How to self-isolate if you think you are infected with the coronavirus (Covid-19)?

Stay home!

It won't be easy, but together with your loved ones you will be able to get through this too.

If you have a confirmed case of the Covid-19 coronavirus but do not need immediate medical attention, health experts advise self-isolation. This means that separate from other people, so as not to infect them.

Experts recommend self-isolation even for those who are showing symptoms illness, including fever, dry cough and fatigue, but have not yet been tested, and for those who have had contact with people known to have the virus. This is a very effective method slowing down spread of the virus and one of the ways to contain its outbreak.

Remember, self-isolation can slow the rate of infection, allowing hospitals to treat those who urgently need help!

Let's look at the ways in which a person can best isolate himself from others.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention CDC and England's National Health Service NHS they list five things you should do during self-isolation.

Some are extremely simple, the only complicated part is that self-isolation lasts 14 days. We'll put up with that, right?

1. Stay home!

Seriously, stay home. This should be immediately clear when talking about the term self-isolation. Do not leave the house if you are sick, unless you urgently need medical care, and even then CALL for help. This means that you are at home, not at the store, not at work, at home. Use the time for yourself, for reading, studying... Avoid contact with other people. If you need food, medicine, ask other people for help.

Stay home!
Stay home!

2. Separate yourself from other people and pets!

Although it is difficult to separate and avoid those you live with, including pets, contact with them should be limited as much as possible. How? If possible, stay in a separate room and use your own bathroom, or go into the bathroom after everyone else has finished and clean up after yourself. Leave the room only when no one is in the next room and then disinfect all areas where you have been. For example, the counter, the handles of drawers and refrigerators, etc. So clean all the surfaces behind you you touchEveryone, pay attention to this! Keep food separate!

As for pets, the CDC recommends avoiding animal friends. "While there have been no reports of pets or other animals contracting COVID-19, it is still recommended that people with COVID-19 limit contact with animals until more information is known about the virus," they explain on its website. You can still tell your furry friends you love them behind closed doors.

3. Protect others from your coughing and sneezing!

Observe proper cough hygiene (cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or cough/sneeze into your sleeve before coughing/sneezing). Throw the paper tissue in the bin after each use, then wash or disinfect your hands. If you can not wear a mask to protect others, whether due to lack or because it causes you breathing problems, those people who enter your room should wear a protective mask. It is crucial not to be in the same room with others.

Protect others from your coughs and sneezes!
Protect others from your coughs and sneezes!

4. Wash your hands!

This is the best we can do to avoid infection. If the virus is on your hand and you touch your nose, mouth or eyes, you can get infected. Frequent hand washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds is essential. Soap and water they are such effective killers of the coronavirus. If you don't have soap and water, doctors they recommend using a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol. The people you live with should wash their hands often and use THEIR soap (so they don't share it with you).

5. Clean and wash the objects you touched!

Cleaning all surfaces is essential. It is not yet clear how the virus spreads surfaceshowever, thorough cleaning is still recommended. Almost everything you touch in your apartment needs to be thoroughly cleaned. This means that counters, door handles, bathrooms, toilets, telephones, keyboards are disinfected every day. CDC.  If there is only one bathroom, NHS a rotation plan is recommended in which the isolated person uses the premises last, and then thoroughly cleans everything they have touched. The laundry is washed separately, at 60 and 90 degrees Celsius.

Thoroughly clean and wash the objects you touched!
Thoroughly clean and wash the objects you touched!

When to end self-isolation?

Self-isolation should not end until "the risk of secondary transmission to others is not minimal", he says CDC.  If you want to know when is the right time, consult the health services.

Hopefully, that day will come sooner if you follow the procedures above.

Simple instructions are also given in the video of the University Clinical Center of Ljubljana.

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