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How to prepare your family for COVID-19

Jose Cordero. (Photo by Gabriel González)

Georgians are more familiar with the steps we need to take to hunker down during a hurricane or an ice storm, but the steps families should take to prepare for an outbreak are similar.

“We all should be thinking about preparedness,” said José Cordero, a pediatrician and epidemiologist with the University of Georgia College of Public Health who studies infectious disease spread and its impact on families.

The purpose of a quarantine, Cordero said, is to keep people that may be infected or have been exposed in some way to coronavirus from having contact with others, so it’s really important for people to heed a community quarantine.

The first thing families in Georgia need to do, he said, is create a household plan of action. This plan should include:

When it comes to food, think beyond bread and milk, Cordero said.

And don’t forget about medications, first aid kit supplies and pet food.

“I also recommend having plenty of things around to keep kids entertained. Two weeks is a long time to be out of school or stuck in a house.”

If a member of the family begins to show signs of a cold or flu, the family needs to have a plan for how that sick loved one will be isolated from other family members and who will take the lead on their care. Needs will look different for each family, said Cordero.

Pregnant women should take special precaution, said Cordero. In most cases, women assume the role of caregivers when a child or older family member gets sick, but pregnant women may be more susceptible to the effects of coronavirus, which is true in the case of the flu.

It is likely that more cases of COVID-19 will be confirmed in the coming weeks, but Cordero urged families to remember that basic universal precautions like getting the flu vaccine and good personal hygiene are the best ways to protect yourself and your family.

“Prevention is key. It’s important to remember that the U.S. has had practice handling infectious disease response for swine flu, Ebola, and most recently Zika. We’re better prepared now because of those experiences to keep people safe, but it will require us all to practice basic prevention,” he said.

One final tip, said Cordero: Stay informed, but be wary of unofficial statements made on websites and social media. “The information on websites for the CDC and the National Institutes of Health have gone through layers of review for accuracy that other sources have not.”

To learn more about basic coronavirus prevention, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is Cordero’s top source: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/index.html

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