COVID-19 Prevention & Treatment

Avoid Direct Contact With Someone Who Is Infected

To prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2, avoid contact with someone who is infected with the virus.  As heartless and insensitive as that may sound, it needs to be made clear that this is not just about compassion for the sick, but also the protection of the public’s well-being.  If you do not need to handle an infected person, it is best to avoid coming in contact with that person.  This is why hospitals do not allow visitors to COVID-19 patients.  Even the patients’ next of kin is usually not allowed to visit them.  The rational is that the less people who get exposed, the less people who get infected, the less people who can infect others.

Healthcare Workers who handle COVID-19 patients do so with thorough procedures and wearing personal protective equipment, all designed to minimize their direct exposure to the virus carried by their patients.  These Healthcare Workers also go through a stringent decontamination process when they get off their shift, before they expose themselves to the general public.  Even then, these Healthcare Workers also go through stringent quarantine procedures even after their decontamination process.  The general public do not normally have access to the same protective equipment, nor are they knowledgeable of the necessary control, decontamination, and quarantine procedures, which can be quite extensive.