How to look after someone with COVID-19 at home?Healthy Living

August 25, 2020 14:51

(Image source from: thequint.com)

Coronavirus has infected almost half of the world, but do you know how to take care of your loved ones at home if they get infected with COVID-19?

If anyone at your home tests positive for COVID-19 and does not require hospital treatment, you will need to begin taking care of your loved ones with more supervision.

You will have to isolate the person from the rest of the household but also keep supplying sufficient fluids and take measures to help relieve the discomfort.

Things to keep in mind while taking care of the COVID-19 patient at home:

Place the patient in a well ventilated single room.
Limit the movement of the patient in the house and also minimize the shared spaces by the patient and the rest of the people in the house.
Household members should stay in different rooms or maintain at least 1 meter distance with the patient.
Limit the number of caregivers, in fact, make sure that only one person from the household is the caregiver for the patient.
Visitors should not be allowed into the house until the patient has completely recovered and tested negative for the virus.
Wash your hands with a soap dispenser or use a hand sanitizer every time you enter the room of the infected or be in that person’s vicinity.
It is preferable to use the paper towels to dry your hands after washing them with soap water.
To contain the respiratory secretions, a medical mask should be provided to the infected person like the N95 masks or masks with the filter.
The medical masks provided to the patients must be replaced daily with the new ones.
Caregivers at home must also wear a medical mask daily that covers their mouth and nose.
When the caregiver is in the same room as the patient, the masks of both of them must not be touched during the use.
Do not reuse the masks or gloves even if you are a caretaker.
It is also important to dispose off the face masks in a closed bin.
Daily clean and disinfect the surfaces and floor of the house and the most touched places in the house and also in the patient’s room.
Clean and disinfect the bathroom surfaces on a daily basis.
Clean the patient’s clothes, separate them from the remaining, and change the bed linen and hand towels in the patient’s room.
Avoid the exposure to contaminated items like toothbrushes, cigarettes, dishes, drinks, towels, bed linens etc from the patient’s immediate environment.
For the patients to be released from the home isolation, they must test negative for the virus through the RT-PCR testing at least twice from the samples collected at least 24 hours apart.
Caregivers must also not touch their faces with their bare hands. They must also frequently sanitize their hands.
The patient must also be kept under the constant supervision by a doctor and in case of any emergency, they must be immediately taken to a nearby healthcare facility.