8 Things That We Can Do During The Enhanced Community Quarantine

During this enhanced community quarantine in our homes, it is best for us to have the time to bond and create beautiful memories with the other members of our family. We can do so many things together to entertain ourselves as we stay indoors. Here are 8 things that we recommend that you can do in your home during these times.

1. Cook meals together. Meal preparation is one of the things that we can do together as a family. From planning on what to cook to preparing the ingredients for the dish we have chosen, to finally, cooking the dish. Slice vegetables or prepare whatever ingredients you need together to make the activity fun and the cooking easy.

2. Clean the home together. Cleaning is something that should be scheduled within the week to keep the home tidy and virus free. We need to wipe surfaces often to keep away viruses and bacteria out from our homes. The only way to do this fast and easily is by working together as a team to keep the surroundings free from harmful viruses or bacteria that can potentially infect us.

3. Keep yourself updated with the current events through television, radio and online resources. If you feel that you need to be informed of what is going on outside and what is currently happening outside your home, turn on your TV, radio or smartphone to find out. However, do not try to bombard yourself with too much information that may depress you in the long run. Stay knowledgeable of what is going on but try not to get too affected by it.

4. If you have a hobby, this is the best time to do it. Be it singing, playing your favourite instrument, listening to music you like, drawing, painting, sculpting, gardening, cooking, baking, dancing, writing, or reading, this the best time to engage yourself in any of these hobbies. You can also watch your favourite TV shows or Youtube channel if you want to. Let yourself enjoy and have fun doing your favourite craft and share it with the rest of the family.

5. If you are missing your friends, better send them a message through SMS, Skype, Facebook Messenger or Google Hangouts. Give them a call or simply send them a text message by asking how they are. Or, you can have a chat with them and ask them how they are doing, or what they are up to at this time. Since you cannot get together physically at this time, it is best to keep in touch with a simple call or chat with your best buddies.

6. Exercise at home, indoors or in your yard to keep the muscles toned. Breathe fresh air in as you stretch or walk around your yard or indoors to keep the respiratory system filled with fresh air. Stretching will keep the muscles toned but try not to do strenuous physical activities. Keep your exercise routines light and relaxing to keep the body healthy.

7. Help each other in doing household chores. Share the load of doing household chores to make everything easy for everyone at home. Sharing the load of the chores will make their accomplishment fast, easy and fun. Do household chores together to make things go smoothly and tasks done quickly.

8. Be optimistic and pray that everything will be alright soon. Think that everything will become normal again and that what we are facing now will soon end. Think about everybody being healthy at all times despite the threats outdoors. Think that everybody in the family will all be healthy and pray that no one will become infected with COVID-19. Think that our communities will overcome this soon and that it will soon end. 

Let's keep our hopes up during these times.

Have a wonderful day.

How Can A Coronavirus Infection Be Treated?

References: WebMD, PH.NEWS.YAHOO.COM, Familydoctor.org

Coronavirus is a virus that infects the nose, sinuses and the upper throat. The treatments for this infection are similar to the treatment used for colds. There are no specific medicines to treat the Coronavirus but there are some medications used for colds that can help treat the symptoms that you may be having. Therefore, if you are having some of these symptoms, it is best to treat the problem early to prevent it from progressing to a worse case or consult your family physician or doctor to seek further medical advice on what you should do to help cure the infection.

Here are some of the suggestions that may help cure the coronavirus infection.

• Get plenty of rest. This means sleep, rest and relax in your bed and room when you are ill as part of the treatment of the infection. Avoid strenuous physical activity during the healing period and let your body recuperate until the symptoms are gone or you have completely healed. 
• Drink fluids. Drink filtered, boiled, and safe to drink water. Or better yet, drink warm fluids like water or warm drinks that will help ease the sore throat that you may be having. This may include warm Calamanci or lemon juice or other citrus drinks that are rich with vitamin C. If possible, avoid drinking fluids that you are unsure if they are safe to drink or have not been boiled to prevent the progress of further infection in your throat. Like when treating colds, plenty of fluids to hydrate the body is recommended.
• Take over-the-counter medicines for sore throat and fever. But do not give aspirin to children or teens younger than 19. Instead, use paracetamol or acetaminophen. You can ease sore throat with warm lemon or Calamanci juice which you can have someone prepare for you or by yourself. Or, Strepsils lemon or orange which can be bought from local drugstores or even convenience stores. Brush your teeth and gargle with warm salt water three times a day to kill bacteria in your mouth and to relieve the sore throat. Keep taking these juices or Strepsils until the sore throat is gone.
• Use a humidifier or have a steamy shower that can help ease the sore and scratchy throat. This warm shower will also help ease the senses and muscles. It may also help your body feel refreshed after and help you relax.
• Avoid contact with others when you are sick. If you are infected with the virus, wear a face mask and try not to go near the other people in your house. Keep away from the other members of the household by staying in your room or go to a hospital that will take care of you. Separate the utensils you use from the rest of the family and use a separate bathroom if possible. 
• If you are having coughs, which is a symptom found with COVID-19 cases, you may take over-the-counter cough medicines. Some of these medications include Bromhexine, Dextromethorphan, Fluimucil, or Salbutamol. These will help heal the coughs by clearing obstructed lungs with phlegm or mucous. A specific measurement of syrups and tablets can be taken usually 3 times daily and symptoms usually heal in less than or a week's time. They also sometimes come in sprays and lozenges. 
• If symptoms persist or the symptoms are becoming difficult to deal with even with the suggestions above, consult your doctor. Your doctor can give you the best recommendations for the condition that you have. Make sure that you follow his or her recommendations and take the prescribed medications he or she will give you because these just might save your life and cure the infection. 
• Be optimistic. Think positive thoughts and visualize yourself cured and well again. This will help you heal fast because your mindset is towards the healing of your body. A positive mindset helps in the recovery process and your thoughts usually affect the rest of your body. As some would say 'mind over body'. Think of yourself as well again and back to your old healthy self, and you will likely be able to have that, after doing the other necessary things that you should as mentioned above. 

Do not worry too much. You will get through this ordeal if you do the things mentioned above and think positively about your condition and the healthy days to come. 

What You Can Do During The COVID-19 Lockdown or Enhanced Community Quaratine In Your Barangays

Here are some things that you can do at home while there is a lockdown in your communities.

• Watch TV. Watch your favourite TV shows, Netflix or Youtube channels as you stay indoors.
• Keep yourself updated with the news from online news resources or television, whichever you prefer.
• Relax at home and stay indoors to prevent contracting the virus from public places.
• Play your favourite online game for a few hours but try to relax the eyes every 30 minutes or after an hour or so. It is actually recommended that your eyes should get about 20 seconds to 1-minute rest, every 30 minutes from the computer screen if you are playing games or working on your PC, Tablet or Smartphone.
• Engage yourself in your favourite hobby. This may be gardening, reading, cooking for the family, doing a bit of exercise, yoga, dancing in your room, writing, painting, drawing, creating artworks that can be done indoors, singing,  playing music, listening to calming music, or playing your favourite tunes with your favourite instrument.
• Keeping the household clean. Have a regular cleaning schedule for the surfaces of your home. Wipe out the dirt from frequently used surfaces and disinfect them to prevent the virus from infecting your household.
• Keep in touch with friends by sending them messages or asking how they are through SMS, Facebook, Skype, Google Hangouts, phone lines or other means of communication. Have a short chat with them if you want to know how they are in their homes.
• If possible, exercise in the morning under the morning sun. Do some stretching, walking or other kinds of exercise under the morning sun in your yard to get the necessary dose of vitamins from sunlight and take a bath after going out. Change your clothes and wash them with soap to disinfect.
• Help around the house. If you could share chores that should be done at home with the rest of the family, this will help keep the home well. This will help in tidying up the house fast and make cooking meals easier if the people in your household help each other. Things get done fast or quickly if this is done.
• Meditate, stay optimistic and think positively. Keep yourself optimistic, hope that this pandemic will end soon and pray that the virus will not infect more people. Think of beautiful things to come and pray that this will be over soon. Think happy thoughts and practice positive thinking. Do not try to stress the thought of becoming infected, instead take steps on how you can keep your body and family healthy, the mind and spirit strong. And always keep an open heart and mind that this pandemic will end soon.

Happy Sunday.

Other Tips that Might Be Useful To Prevent The Spread of Corona Virus

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Reference: WHO

If you have gone out of your home or spent some time in public places where there are many people you might need to sanitize once you get home.

Put the clothes you wore when you were in the public place in the laundry, wash them and dry them. And take a warm bath or shower immediately after going outdoors to avoid or prevent infecting the other people inside your home with the virus.

Wash your hands after touching surfaces in your home. Wash your hands before eating, after eating, before preparing food, after preparing food, after using the toilet, after using the bathroom, touching frequently used doorknobs and after cleaning surfaces in your home. Wash your hands frequently or use a disinfectant like alcohol if washing is not possible.

Disinfect surfaces with disinfectants especially if you suspect that the virus might be present on them. The virus is known to survive surfaces for some hours, so if you suspect that a surface may have the virus, disinfect immediately with a good disinfectant before it spreads further. Make sure to sanitize yourself as well after disinfection.

Stay indoors as much as possible to prevent contracting the disease. Keeping yourself indoors is the best way to avoid becoming infected with the coronavirus. This prevents you from becoming exposed to people who might be carriers of the virus. This will help prevent the spreading of the virus inside your household and protect your family from infection.

Eat healthy to keep the immune system healthy as well. If you have prescribed medications make sure to take them to keep your body healthy and prevent you from getting ill. Take your doctor prescribed medication as directed by your physician or doctors and make sure to eat food that is good for your health. Eat carbohydrates (like bread, rice, potatoes, noodles) with some cooked or well-blanched vegetables and some meat or fish that are not infected with bacteria or other kinds of animal disease.

Get as much rest as you can to keep your body healthy and free from disease. Resting is best for good health. If you are 60 years old and above, it is best to get enough rest to keep your immune system well and resistant to infection. Stay indoors and avoid going out in public places to prevent and avoid yourself from contracting the virus. Sleep and nourish yourself well at home and try not to tire yourself too much inside the household. Let your body relax and eat healthy foods to keep your body healthy.

When going out outdoors, always wear your face mask and face shield to avoid infection. Adhere to quarantine and health protocols like keeping a distance of 3 to 6 feet away when in public places. Never go out without your face mask and face shield when you walk in public areas, ride public transport and when you work.

Go to the supermarket or groceries only when it is necessary to prevent catching the virus from public places. If possible, buy all the things that you need for an entire month to avoid frequent visits to the shops, stores, groceries, drug stores, and public markets. 

Happy Sunday.

What We Can Do To Stop The Spread Of Corona Virus

Source: WebMD

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

People who are 60 years old and above are the most prone to contracting the Coronavirus and the average age of people who have died of the virus is 80 years old. However, there are ways that we can do in order to stop the virus from spreading in our communities. US Surgeon Dr. Jerome Adams, MD, in an interview with Dr. John Whyte, sites some tips on how to prevent the spread of the disease. This is a brief summary of his recommendations to the public. 

Young people, even though they are not high risk are the one's who are spreading the disease when they go to bars and restaurants or beaches. They can bring the virus home to their grandmother or grandfather or nursing homes. Therefore, young people should minimize their time in public in any way to prevent the spreading of the disease at home. 

Avoid going to stores if you are immunocompromised. This means that you should not go shopping, to restaurants or bars if you have heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer or HIV.  These people have a tendency to become infected with the virus once exposed to someone who has it.

If your a grandparent and have any of the diseases mentioned, it is best to stay indoors and avoid travelling at all costs. At least for a couple of weeks.

He also mentioned the two best resources about this disease include coronavirus.gov. This site has information and guidance for specific audiences, businesses, schools, faith-based communities, and families. The State Department of Health website has some information about this as well. 

Surgical masks and other kinds of masks are used to prevent you from spreading the disease to other people. N95 masks or the coned shaped ones are for health care workers.

Don't touch your face to prevent the introduction of the virus, or other diseases like flu, to your body.

Avoid social gatherings of about 10 people or above. Don't have these gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus.

Work from home, if possible, to prevent exposing yourself to the virus. And avoid any unessential travel. 

Prevent the virus from spreading through good hygiene. This can be done by not touching your face often. Frequent hand washing and cleaning surfaces to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Social distancing. Stay about 6 feet or two arms-length apart from other people.

Minimize the people who are coming in and out of our household because anyone who comes in maybe a  potential case. Checking their temperature may be a good idea. Check also for symptoms like fever, cough or shortness of breath because these are signs of the virus. You may also ask if they have had some of these symptoms recently. If they did, it is best to not let them come over. Every person who comes in and out of your house is the person who could be bringing coronavirus in. 

Avoid playdates. At least for the time being.

For older people, we need to be very careful about hygiene. If a young person has to see their grandparents, they should wash their hands. No playdates in the house where the grandparents are and avoid people from coming back and forth the home. We do not need to isolate them from the rest of the world but we must make sure that we understand and control their circumstances so that they can stay safe.

"We should do everything we can to avoid putting older people with risk factors around younger people who are going back and forth the home", Dr. Adam's said. "But at the end of the day, you've got to do what you've got to do. And if that is the only option, then you should be leaning into hygiene in that environment and making sure you are wiping down surfaces and making sure that everyone's frequently washing their hands", he further added.

Dr. Adams also said, "What we DON'T want is for someone to get a negative test, and then think, OK, it's time to go party". This is because the virus has an incubation period of 14 days.

Dr. Adams's take on blood supply and blood banks, "We're worried about unintended consequences. And that's why, from the start,  I told people to prepare but not to panic. I really do worry that there is a potential for more people to be impacted by our reaction to coronavirus.  There's discrimination going on. There are people hoarding. There are people pulling knives on each other in grocery stores over hand sanitisers. There are people losing jobs. And, it's really important for us to think through, how we can still stay socially engaged while we're practising social distancing. And the blood donation system is one of those. The majority of blood ---all of the blood, quite frankly, that is donated for surgeries, for people who have traumatic injures, for people who have sickle cell anemia, for people who have cancer and need blood transfusions comes from volunteers. And we've seen that over the last week, over half of the blood drives have been pulled down. There's not a shortage yet, but there could be a shortage if people do not go out and donate blood." He further added, "One blood donation can save three lives. And you're home from work. You're home from college maybe. It's a great way to go out and do something good for your community. You'll feel better about it."

Dr. Adams also said that "Social distancing does not mean social disengagement." He further added that "just as you are going to the grocery store still, you should still be thinking about going to donate blood."

Have a good Sunday. 

What You Can Do When You Have a Sore Throat, Runny Nose and Coughs

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

If you are having a sore throat, runny nose and coughs there are some kitchen ingredients and medications that can help you relieve the pains.

If you have a sore throat, you can slice 3 calamanci and squeeze the juice (about a tablespoon) in 300 ml of freshwater, that was boiled and drink the solution while it is hot. Take this hot solution every morning or 3 times daily if the problem is really worse or very painful. If you do not have calamanci juice try other citrus fruits like lemon (if you are not allergic to it), lime or orange as a substitute. You may add boiled ginger water to the citrus ingredients and put a little honey or 1/2 teaspoon of sugar if the solution is too sour for you. Or try the Strepsils orange, or if you prefer lemon, to relieve your sore throat. There is a direction on how many of these candies you should take on the pack that you can buy in drug stores or convenience stores.

Reduce the amount of your intake of sugary drinks, or sugar itself, coffee, unboiled fresh milk and eat carbohydrates rich food like bread, biscuits, rice or potatoes. You can eat these carbohydrates with cooked vegetables, fish and some meat that is not infected with flu and other kinds of diseases.

Brush your teeth twice or three times daily with minty toothpaste to prevent the accumulation of bacteria in your mouth. Gargle and spit out the saliva as a result of brushing. This will prevent the accumulation of bacteria in your mouth and prevent it from infecting the tonsils and the esophagus. A clean mouth and tongue will help prevent bacteria from reaching your throat and, therefore, prevent soreness.

Let your body perspire. Go somewhere where it is hot, and bathe in warm water if you are living in cooler regions. This will help kill bacteria that may be on your skin and help soothe your body. 

Make sure that you boil the water you drink. Some viruses and bacteria tend to thrive in cool temperatures, so better boil your drinks before you drink them and make them safe for consumption.

If you cannot sleep take 100 mg of Ziproc, Nirva or Clozapine. These are antipsychotic medications but they work by letting you get the sleep that your body needs and for your nervous system to relax and make it work in sync with the entire body. They will help you relax the brain and regenerate the strength of your nervous system that you need for the next day's work. A tablet or capsule of Stilnox or Benadryl is another option. These tablets or medications also work to help you sleep if you are having insomnia. 

If you are having painful, terrible and persistent coughs even as you sleep, try Bisolvon, Fluimicil or Zambon, and Ventolin. Drink about 5 to 6 glasses of water to make these medications work. For Bisolvon take 5ml of the syrup 3 times a day. If you use the Zambon brand, dissolve the contents of the sachet in 1 glass of water and drink. For Ventolin, read the instructions on the box of the bottle or bottle itself. These medications help relieve cough in less than a week or so.

Wash your hands with warm or better with hot water (but not scalding) and anti-bacterial soaps. This is recommended especially if you think that you have touched bacteria or virus-infected materials. This also helps kill or minimize infection from harmful bacteria or viruses. Bacteria and some viruses tend to dislike hot temperatures. You can also use alcohol or cover your hands with gloves to protect yourself from becoming infected.

Get some rest. If you are having pains and weakness. Relax at home, stay indoors and try to get the rest you need. Sleep and eat until you have recuperated or recovered from the illness or have become well. Let your body regenerate the physical strength you need by resting and nurturing your body to good health again. This may take some time but it is very necessary if you want to survive. 

Try some of these solutions if you have these symptoms. They might work for you and might heal you quickly.

Have a wonderful day.