Best Practices for Preventing COVID-19

• • Wash your hands thoroughly and often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds – especially if you have been in a public setting and after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.
• • If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Cover your hands and between your fingers with the sanitizer and allow them to air dry.
• • New recommendations from the CDC: Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others or when you must go out in public (e.g., grocery store, pharmacy, etc.). The cloth mask is meant to protect others in case you are infected. You could spread COVID-19 to others even if you do not feel sick. Cloth face coverings should not be placed on young children under age 2, anyone who has trouble breathing, or is unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to remove the mask without assistance. Do NOT use a facemask meant for a healthcare worker. Continue to keep about 6 feet between yourself and others. The cloth face cover is not a substitute for social distancing.
• • Avoid touching your face, eyes, nose and mouth.
• • Cover coughs and sneezes. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow. Throw the tissue away and wash your hands with soap and water.
• • Practice social distancing. Stay at home as much as possible. If you must go to the grocery store or pharmacy, keep 6 feet distance between you and others.
• • Avoid touching high-touch surfaces in public places like handles, handrails, and elevator buttons. Use a tissue or your sleeve to cover it if you must touch something.
• • Clean and regularly disinfect frequently touched items in your home – faucets, light switches, tables, doorknobs, handles, desks, toilets and cell phones.
• • Avoid all non-essential travel.

Reviewed and edited on 4/6/20

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