What You Should Do If Caring for Someone with Coronavirus

Household members and caregivers who have close contact with a person with confirmed COVID-19 or a person under investigation should monitor their own health and call their healthcare provider right away if they develop symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath).

CARING FOR SOMEONE WHO IS SICK
    Help the patient follow their healthcare provider’s instructions for medication(s) and care.
    Help with basic needs in the home and provide support for getting groceries, prescriptions and other personal needs.
    Stay in another room or be separated from the patient as much as possible. Use a separate bedroom and bathroom, if available.
    Prohibit visitors who do not have an essential need to be in the home.
    Care for any pets in the home. The person who is sick should not handle pets or other animals while sick.
    Perform hand hygiene frequently for at least 20 seconds or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains 60 to 95% alcohol. Wash your hands if visibly dirty.
    Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
    The patient should wear a facemask when around other people. If the patient is not able to wear a facemask, the caregiver, should wear a mask when in the same room as the patient.
    Avoid sharing household items with the patient such as dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, bedding, or other items. After the patient uses these items, you should wash them thoroughly.
    Clean all “high-touch” surfaces, such as counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables, every day. Also, clean any surfaces that body fluids on them. Use a household cleaning spray or wipe, according to the label instructions.
    Wash laundry thoroughly using a normal laundry detergent according to washing machine instructions and dry thoroughly using the warmest temperatures recommended on the clothing label.
IF YOU ARE SICK
Your healthcare provider and public health staff will evaluate whether you can be cared for at home. If it is determined that you can be isolated at home, you will be monitored by staff from your local or state health department. You should follow these steps until a healthcare provider or local or state health department says you can return to your normal activities.
    Stay home except to get medical care.
    Restrict activities outside your home, except for getting medical care. Do not go to work, school, or public areas. Avoid using public transportation, ride-sharing, or taxis.
    Separate yourself from other people and animals in your home. As much as possible, you should stay in a specific room. Also, you should use a separate bathroom, if available.
    Restrict contact with pets and other animals while you are sick.
    Call ahead before visiting your doctor
        If you have a medical appointment, call the healthcare provider and tell them that you have or may have COVID-19 to help to keep other people from getting infected or exposed.
    Wear a facemask when you are around other people (e.g., sharing a room or vehicle) or pets and before you enter a healthcare provider’s office.
    Cover your coughs and sneezes
    Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw used tissues in a lined trash can. Immediately wash your hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or, if soap and water are not available, clean your hands with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.
    Clean your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing; going to the bathroom; and before eating or preparing food.
    Avoid sharing personal household items
    You should not share dishes, drinking glasses, cups, eating utensils, towels, or bedding with other people or pets in your home. After using these items, they should be washed thoroughly with soap and water.
    Clean all “high-touch” surfaces everyday
    Monitor your symptoms
    Seek prompt medical attention if your illness is worsening. If you have a medical emergency and need to call 911, notify the dispatch personnel that you have, or are being evaluated for COVID-19. If possible, put on a facemask before emergency medical services arrive.
DISCONTINUING HOME ISOLATION
    Stay at home until instructed to leave. Patients with confirmed COVID-19 should remain under home isolation precautions until the risk of secondary transmission to others is thought to be low.
    Talk to your healthcare provider. The decision to discontinue home isolation precautions should be made on a case-by-case basis, in consultation with healthcare providers and state and local health departments.

Steps to Help Cope with Evolving Coronavirus Situation

This is a particularly stressful time. Something like this is upsetting for everyone involved. People in impacted areas of the country are affected, as well as people all over the country who are watching the media coverage of this situation.

Children are especially at risk as they may become frightened that they or their loved ones will get sick. It is important to reassure children and talk to them in a calm manner. Their view of the world as a safe and predictable place is temporarily lost. How a parent or other adult reacts around the child in a situation like this can determine how quickly and completely the child recovers.
STEPS TO HELP COPE
People may be experiencing many different emotions like fear, anger, confusion and disbelief. These are all normal feelings in this type of situation. Their reactions appear in different ways, not only in the way someone feels, but in the way they think and what they think about; their sleeping habits, how they go about daily living; and the way they interact and get along with others. Here are a few steps to help people cope:
    Stay informed through trusted resources like the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), but limit exposure to media coverage, especially for children.
    Spend more time with family and friends and offer your support.
    Take care of yourself. Eat healthy, drink plenty of water and get enough rest.
    Be patient with yourself and others. It’s common to have any number of temporary stress reactions such as fear, anger, frustration and anxiety.
    Encourage children to express their feelings and thoughts. Reassure them about their safety.
    Relax your body often by doing things that work for you—take deep breaths, stretch, meditate or pray, or engage in activities you enjoy.
    Pace yourself between stressful activities, and do something fun after a hard task.
Many people have experience coping with stressful life events and typically feel better after a few days. Others find that their stress does not go away as quickly as they would like and it influences their relationships with their family, friends and others. Children, senior citizens, people with disabilities and people for whom English is not their first language are especially at risk and are likely to need extra care and help.
If you find yourself or a loved one experiencing some of the feelings and reactions listed below for two weeks or longer, this may be a sign that you need to reach out for additional assistance.
    Crying spells or bursts of anger
    Difficulty eating
    Difficulty sleeping
    Losing interest in things
    Increased physical symptoms such as headaches or stomachaches
    Fatigue
    Feeling guilty, helpless or hopeless
    Avoiding family and friends

Coronavirus: Safety and Readiness Tips for You

There are also special recommendations for people who may be at a higher risk which you can find below.

LIMIT THE SPREAD OF GERMS AND PREVENT INFECTION
The Red Cross recommends following common sense steps to help prevent the spread of any respiratory virus.
    Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after being in a public place, or after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing. If soap and water are not readily available, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol.
    Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth with unwashed hands.
    Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
    Put distance between yourself and other people if COVID-19 is spreading in your community.
    Stay home if you are sick, except to get medical care.
    Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when coughing or sneezing; throw used tissues in the trash. If a tissue isn’t available, cough or sneeze into your elbow or sleeve, not your hands.
    Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces daily. This includes tables, doorknobs, light switches, handles, desks, computers, phones, keyboards, sinks, toilets and countertops.
    If surfaces are dirty, clean them - use detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection. Full information on how to disinfect found here.
    Wear a facemask if you are sick. You should wear a facemask when you are around other people (e.g., sharing a room or vehicle) and before you enter a healthcare provider’s office.
GET YOUR HOUSEHOLD READY
There are things you can do right now to be ready for any emergency, and many of these same tips will help you prepare as the coronavirus situation continues to evolve in the U.S.
    Have a supply of food staples and household supplies like laundry detergent and bathroom items, and diapers if you have small children.
    Check to make sure you have at least a 30-day supply of your prescription medications, and have other health supplies on hand, including pain relievers, stomach remedies, cough and cold medicines, fluids with electrolytes and vitamins.
    Know how your local public health agency will share information in your community and stay informed. Find more information here.
    Learn how your children’s school or daycare, and your workplace will handle a possible outbreak. Create a plan in the event of any closings, event cancellations or postponements.
    If you care for older adults or children, plan and prepare for caring for them, should they or you become sick.
    Help family members and neighbors get prepared and share the safety messaging with those who may not have access to it.
According to the CDC, patients with COVID-19 have reportedly had mild to severe respiratory illness. Symptoms may appear 2-14 days after exposure and include fever, cough and shortness of breath. Call your doctor if you think you have been exposed to COVID-19 and develop symptoms.
WHO IS AT A HIGHER RISK?
COVID-19 is a new disease, which means scientists and public health experts are still learning how it spreads, the severity of illness it causes and to what extent it may spread in the U.S.
Early information shows that some people are at higher risk of getting very sick from this virus. This includes older adults and people who have serious chronic medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes and lung disease.
If you are at higher risk for serious illness from COVID-19 because of your age or a serious medical condition, it is extra important for you to take actions to avoid getting sick.
    Take everyday precautions to keep space between yourself and others.
    When you go out in public, keep away from others who are sick, limit close contact and wash your hands often.
    Avoid crowds as much as possible.
    Stock up on supplies.
        Contact your healthcare provider to ask about obtaining extra necessary medications to have on hand in case there is an outbreak of COVID-19 in your community and you need to stay home for a prolonged period of time.
        If you cannot get extra medications, consider using a mail-order option.
        Be sure you have over-the-counter medicines and medical supplies (tissues, etc.) to treat fever and other symptoms. Most people will be able to recover from COVID-19 at home.
        Have enough household items and groceries on hand so that you will be prepared to stay at home for a period of time.
During a COVID-19 outbreak in your community, stay home as much as possible. Full information for those at a higher risk is available here.

16 “Gotta-Know-’Em” Tips for Using Dating Apps Abroad

If you’ve ever found yourself traveling abroad single, you don’t have to be! Everyone knows the only reason to see the world is to date people of different cultures, like a sexual tourist of Diet Pepsi flavors. If you need some help, take it from me, a person who went to Paris to get over heartbreak at large and wound up with exactly zero Parisian boyfriends.

1. Be inflexible about English.
Never mind the fact that you’re on foreign soil. Everyone knows Americans are heralded abroad. Bonus points if you only speak English in the accent of the country that you’re in. Lit-rally luv that for them.
2. Give them local recommendations.
The fact that you’ve only been in town for three hours? Unimportant, they don’t know what they’re missing.
3. Do everything possible to only meet other Americans abroad.
Oh, you’re doing a semester in London and you live in New Jersey the rest of the year? Exotic!
4. Lean into hyper-specific local English lingo.
If you don’t know what “full send” means...woof. Dunno where you’ve been, but...that sucks.
5. If all else fails, communicate in *only* emoji.
Regardless of local culture, everyone knows what ???????????????? means. (That you’d like to meet up for coffee in a park, obviously.)
6. Constantly steer the conversation back to how much of a nightmare your flight was.
“You haven’t seen America until you’ve flown Spirit to Newark. All the locals do that.”
7. Demand that they only meet you in the U.S.
It doesn’t matter that you’re in Barcelona today, you’ll be back in Connecticut in a week, and if they’re not willing to meet you halfway (aka all the way, on your territory, on your turf), they must just be using you.
8. If the conversation goes awry, pretend you’ve been waiting for the rest of your tour group to show up this whole time.
What personalized service! Five stars on TripAdvisor, of course! *Am* I into polyamory? Hmm, where’s the rest of the group though?
9. Ask repeatedly if the tap water is safe to drink.
Truly, the best icebreaker. Even better on the third or fourth deployment with the same person too. Try it yourself! You’ll see what I mean.
10. If all goes well, the morning after, assume you’ve now found a local tour guide for the rest of your trip.
Wake them up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with a full itinerary of where you’ll both be spending the next 13 days together.

11. Eat only prepackaged chocolate pudding manufactured in Poughkeepsie à la Charlotte from the Sex and the City movie.
Shitting your pants on the walk from the shower to your hotel room is par for the course, really.
12. Make your only cultural frame of reference animated movies.
Walt Disney was really looking out, TBH.
13. Show your sophistication by constantly being underwhelmed by the magnificent works of art in town.
“They really sell you on a pointier Eiffel Tower in the photos, by the way. Also, the Mona Lisa was just not very big.”
14. Demand that they pay for everything because of the “exchange rate.”
Is it in our favor or theirs today? Who knows!
15. Remember the ABCs: Always Be Changing (your origin story).
Before noon, you’re from New York City; in the evenings, you hail from Hollywood; at 10:36 p.m., you’re from Texas. If anyone calls you out, say they’re all really close to each other and scoff at them for not knowing U.S. geography.
16. Constantly bring up Brexit regardless of what country you’re in.
Do the Balinese have strong feelings on Brexit? I’m sure they do, if asked.