6 Easy Tips to stay healthy in home isolation or quarantine in Covid-19.

Have you come in contact with a Covid 19 Positive person?

Are you thinking what to do next. First confirm that the other person is COVID positive and you are a contact.

The first thing that you should do if you have come in contact with a Covid positive person, is to Isolate yourself. Then you should monitor the symptoms and do the required testing. Home isolation or quarantine will prevent the spread of disease and will break the chain.

What is Contact:

According to the Ministry of health and family welfare, India the Contact for COVID-19 is defined as a healthy person who came in direct contact with a COVID-19 infected person or exposed to a contaminated environment and therefore, is at a higher risk of getting an infection and developing the disease.

So, it is important to maintain home isolation. Now the important thing is to decide what to do in home isolation so that you can keep yourself healthy mentally and physically.

What are the symptoms of COVID-19?

Now, that you have understood what does a Contact person means and why isolation is important.

Lets us take a quick look at the common symptoms of COVID-19

These are the common symptoms of COVID.

What to do in Home Isolation for Covid-19?

Here are the 6 easy things that you should do when in-home isolation or quarantine. These will keep you and your family healthy and safe. which will keep you healthy

1. Staying at home and eat good food

Staying at home is the best option. Try to avoid going out until it’s very urgent or necessary. If you go out to buy necessary groceries or medicines, after coming home you should sanitize your cloth by washing and sanitize your hands by hand washing or hand rubbing.

It’s important to maintain a good diet including Proteinaceous food (Meat, Chicken, Eggs, Soy, Tofu, Paneer, Pulses, Fish, etc) along with green leafy vegetables (Spinach, Lettuce, Bottle guard, Bitter guard, etc).

It’s necessary to maintain adequate hydration by drinking at least 2 liters of water a day. You may include Fruit juices or fruit salads in between your day.

2. Regular Check on Temperature

Keep checking your temperature twice daily preferably thrice. Any rise in temperature beyond 98.5-degree Fahrenheit should not be neglected.

Apart from increased body temperature, other symptoms include- cough, running nose, lethargy, loose motions, headache, generalized weakness, sore throat, left eye conjunctivitis, COVID rashes in some cases.

Maintain a monitoring chart and record the parameters thrice a day:

3. Practice Social hygiene and Social distancing.

Whenever stepping out, first of all, avoid crowded places. It’s important to maintain always at least 2 meters (6 feet) distance from others. Wear masks appropriately (It should cover from your nose bridge to chin).

Keep sanitizing your hands by hand rub, when you are in public places. In case of sneezing or coughing multiple times, better to change the mask to avoid bacterial/ viral infection.

Always wear the closed shoes while moving outside the house. It will protect your feet’s getting visibly dirty and protect you from germs carrying over to your home.

4. Frequent Washing your hands.

Maintaining personal hygiene by practice good hand hygiene by washing your hands with soap and water or using an alcohol-based sanitizer.

According to the World Health Organization, the minimum time period for handwashing with soap and water is for at least 20 seconds at a time. Handwashing has 7 basic steps (described by WHO)

5. Isolate yourself, if mildly sick

If you are presented with some of the symptoms like mild cough, running nose, loose motions, etc, and suspecting that you are sick, it’s best to isolate yourself from others in a separate room with an attached toilet and bathroom.

If a separate bathroom and toilet are not available, clean your toilet with bleach/ Phenolic disinfectants after each use.

Clean your clothes and other linen separately using common household detergent and let it dry under sun.

Try avoiding sharing household items. Better to use disposable cutleries like cups, plates, glasses, and even towels, beddings, or any other items.

If anyone is sick at home, wear a surgical mask all the time. Masks should be replaced every 6-8hrs and disposed of separately.

The used mask should be disinfected with ordinary bleach solution (5%) or sodium hypochlorite solution (1%) and then disposed of either by burning or deep burial.

Used mask should be considered as potentially infected and should not be used again.

6. Always take advice from your doctor.

If you need a medical attention, take advice from your doctor. Don’t self-treat yourself. Don’t neglect high grade fever, breathing difficulties, loose motions.

Contact your hospital/Doctor before going, so that they can take necessary precautions for your arrival.

Why it is important to Isolate?

Self-isolation is important because it protects others from getting COVID-19 infection.

Quarantine helps in preventing the spread of disease. If a person knows they are sick or infected with the virus, they can isolate themselves.

People in quarantine or in self-isolation (if mildly sick) should stay at home, separate themselves from others, monitor their health parameters, and follow directions from their state or local health authorities.

Take Home Message:

Self-isolation is very important for those who are prone to become sick. Staying at home for a minimum of 14 days of your contact or recent travel to containment areas.

Don’t neglect your symptoms like fever, cough, shortness of breath or any other symptoms of COVID-19

People with co-morbidities like Diabetes, Hypertension, or any other chronic disease are a high-risk group and hence prone to get very sick from COVID-19.

Prevention is better than cure. Wear a mask whenever required. Better Diet and adequate hydration will boost up your immunity.