PRACTICE “CORONAVIRUS COMMON SENSE”

How To Manage Your Everyday Life Under This New Paradigm

Here’s How To Practice Great Hygiene—All The Time

Greetings all you Boomers.  As you might expect, everyone is a bit on edge with the continual pounding by the news media over the coronavirus, and reinforcing, either correctly or incorrectly, that boomers and seniors of all ages are most at risk.  Wow!!!  As for me, I am quite tired of listening to the gloom and doom portrayed by the media concerning this subject.  I feel it is actually more stressful, because so much of what is being reported is opinion based and not factual.  

I’m really not as healthy as most, but you would never know it. I do have underlying immune system deficiencies, but I support my life-style with exercise, fairly good sleep, and a reasonable diet, and I turn off the TV when the news comes on.  I prefer to read my news, which is carefully selected on one of my devices, in the morning with a great cup of coffee.  I find this much more humane than yelling at the TV and the various, uninformed news casters.

Here is a prime case in point. The media has been relentless and unduly critical of Corona beer as suffering greatly in light of this onset.  They’ve made jokes about pouring it down the drain to avoid catching the coronavirus, and other lude comments.   The CEO just released a statement that fights the notion the brand has been negatively impacted by recent events, and points out their sales have increased by five percent over the latest four-week period, nearly doubling the 52-week trend for the brand.

My BoomerGuy and I were shocked over this past weekend at the number of people out and about coughing and sneezing without covering their mouth, then touching various food items and other products, like clothing and electronics.  SHOCKING!

I have been in and out of the nursing home a number of times this past week, where my parents are suffering with a cold and flu, and the employees are all sniffling and hacking about.  But the good news, they are wearing anti-viral masks.  Inasmuch as nursing homes are on high alert with guidelines for not entering unless it’s a medical necessity, I had to go in because my mother was just put on hospice and it was required that I meet with the hospice staff and sign the appropriate documents.  All that being said, I took every precaution possible.  I double masked and wore disposable gloves, and then cleaned every hard surface with Clorox wipes in my parent’s room.  

So the message here is to calm it down.  Process what you will by monitoring and filtering the news and run with common sense and follow the recommendations by the medical experts.  While following this advice probably won’t eliminate all the stress associated with this new disease state, it will definitely help lower your anxiety.  

As you know, the various places of business you are frequenting have been instructed to follow specific protocols for the prevention of infection during this critical time.  They should be doing this, but because of limited staffing or available products they may not be addressing all the issues as well as they could.  With that, I have provided you with several helpful hints as further protection; they are not in any particular order, I simply shared them as they rolled off my memory:

• Obviously, the first rule is to follow the recommended guidelines set forth by the Centers for Disease Control, the State and Federal Governments, your personal physician and other medical experts on this matter. 
• Wipe off your remotes at home, and in the hotel you are visiting.  They are an absolute breeding ground for bacteria.
• Wipe off your automobile door handles, steering wheel, and rear-view mirror after you have had it serviced or washed.
• Do not touch the plastic separators on the conveyor belts at your favorite grocery store—they’ve probably never been disinfected.
• If you’re overly cautious, wear a mask and disposable rubber gloves—do not touch the mask while it’s in place, and carefully remove and discard the gloves upon exiting.  
• Wear gloves to interact with the touch screen and credit/debit card keypad at the place of business is very wise, since these seldom get wiped or disinfected.
• Use handy wipes or some other kind of disinfectant to clean off your table in the restaurant.  While the facility should be doing this in between customers, it’s better to be safe.
• Do not use the pen offered by the restaurant to sign the credit/debit card receipt, or any pen for that matter—use your own.
• Gently wipe off your credit/debit card after you have given it to someone for processing.
• When shopping, dining, at the movie theater, in flight or wherever, obviously wash your hands and use a paper towel to open the restroom door upon exiting and dispose of it immediately.
• Use the automatic doors provided at various businesses, rather than grabbing the door handle.
• Always wipe down your grocery cart handles.  And please don’t put your items in the small, top area by the handle, you simply do not know what was sitting there.  Place them in the lower larger basket.
• If you can avoid it, do not touch the sliding rubber rails on escalators, try to balance yourself in the middle of the stair.  This also goes for all hand-rails and bannisters.  
• Use your knuckle or elbow to push the button on the elevator.
• Probably time to avoid food courts.
• If you’re flying, wipe down your tray table and in-flight monitor and only touch your call button and air vent with a handy wipe or tissue which you will dispose of immediately.
• At your favorite bookstore, try reaching for the book or magazine that is behind the front one, which has most likely been touched numerous times by others.
• Oh, and don’t forget your cell phones.  You lay them down on every conceivable surface and touch the screen with more than one finger, so wipe them down carefully and frequently.
• And…wash, wash, wash your hands thoroughly, numerous times throughout the day, it’s never enough.

As we age, it’s important that we look after our health and well-being, but never so important as it is now with this impending cloud darkening our skies.  Drink plenty of fluids—as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs, the very first thing you should in the morning when you wake is drink a glass of water.  Hydrate your body then and all day long.  Get plenty of Z’s and you might even wish to take a vitamin supplement or two depending on your condition.  If you start feeling funky, run don’t walk to your doctor and health professionals. 

It’s time for real common sense, and making yourself your Number One priority.

DISCLAIMER:  While I am not an epidemiologist nor medical professional, I have been practicing safe hygiene for years, and found the suggestions mentioned above to be extraordinarily helpful in preventing colds, flu and other nasty communicable infections.