Staying healthy: How to protect yourself and reduce the spread of disease

Vaccination is one of the most important ways to protect you and your loved ones from becoming infected or developing serious complications. Vaccines can help prevent the spread of disease, and also help protect people who can't get vaccinated.

Some vaccines offer life-long protection, while others require annual vaccination. For example, the flu and COVID-19 vaccines need booster doses to continue to protect you throughout your life.

To learn more about vaccines, you can consult your health care provider, reach out to your local public health office or click on the links below for more information.

Staying at home and limiting contact with others when you're sick is one of the best ways to prevent spreading illness in your community. This helps protect people who are at greater risk of severe complications from respiratory infections.

If you have one of the following, if possible, you should stay home while sick:

• Fever
• A new or worsening cough
• Symptoms of gastro-intestinal illness, such as vomiting or diarrhea

OR

Two or more of the following:

• Difficulty breathing
• Sore throat
• Runny nose/congestion
• Headache
• New onset of fatigue
• Purple markings on the fingers and toes of children

Public Health recommends that those who are sick should stay home until they are feeling better, are fever-free for at least 24 hours without using fever-reducing medication, free of vomiting and diarrhea for at least 48 hours (if present) and are well enough to participate fully in all activities.

If you share spaces with others, even while at home, you can reduce the risk of spreading respiratory illnesses by combining different personal protective measures.

Staying home when sick is important, but you should still seek medical attention if you need it. Tell your health care provider about your symptoms ahead of time and wear a mask when you seek care if possible. 

Your hands may touch many surfaces in the run of a day. Everyday activities, including personal hygiene, food preparation, and house-cleaning, can result in bacteria and viruses collecting on fingers and palms. 

Viruses can live for hours, and sometimes longer, on many things you touch on a regular basis. These unwelcome passengers can be left on all sorts of surfaces such as doorknobs, telephones, and faucets. The next person to touch these objects runs the risk of collecting these germs on his/her hands in turn. 

When your fingers touch your eyes, nose or mouth, or an open cut or sore, the risk of infection increases. Many illnesses, such as influenza, meningitis, common cold, and infectious diarrhea, are often passed from one person to another in this manner. 

That’s why it's so important to wash your hands often and well. 

To wash your hands properly, follow these steps:

• Wet your hands and apply liquid soap or clean bar soap
• Rub your hands vigorously together, scrubbing all skin surfaces
• Pay special attention to the areas around your nails and between your fingers
• Continue scrubbing for at least twenty seconds
• Rinse your hands and dry them well

Proper and frequent hand washing is the key to preventing the spread of many common infections. It's an easy way to protect your health and the health of others when diseases, such as cold and flu, are 'going around'.

You can help reduce the spread of respiratory particles when you cough or sneeze by following these steps:

• Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your elbow, not your hand
• Throw any used tissues into a lined waste container as soon as possible
• Clean your hands immediately afterwards

Masking remains a personal choice. Consider wearing a mask if you are recovering from an infection and you still have some symptoms but you’re returning to your usual activities.

Masks are an effective measure that help provide protection against respiratory infectious diseases.

Respirators and masks are most effective when:

• They fit well
• They're well-constructed
• You wear them properly

They act as a barrier and can filter out respiratory particles. This can help to reduce the amount of infectious respiratory particles you breathe in. This helps protect you from getting infected or sick.

Masks also work by containing infectious respiratory particles you produce if you're sick, even if you don't have symptoms. This helps prevent you from spreading infection to others.

You should choose the best quality and best fitting respirator or mask available to you.

Non-medical masks can help prevent the spread of respiratory infectious diseases, but respirators and medical masks provide better protection. 

Good ventilation can also help protect against the risk of spreading viruses. Combining indoor ventilation with public health measures can help keep you and others protected.

If it’s safe to do so, it is recommended to open windows and doors regularly, ideally with more than one open at a time, and even if only for a few minutes. This will create a cross-breeze of fresh air and can improve air quality.

Exhaust fans above stovetops and in bathrooms that vent outdoors can help move air outside. However, it’s important to note that portable or ceiling fans, or single-unit air conditioners might not improve ventilation.

Air purifiers can help reduce the amount of some viruses in the air and may add an additional layer of protection.

Certain air filtration systems, such as high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, can efficiently trap particles that people exhale when breathing, coughing and sneezing. They have been shown to reduce the concentration of some viruses from the air.

While humidifiers do not remove respiratory viruses from the indoor air, they could impact the duration that particles that contain the virus are suspended in the air. It is therefore important to maintain an optimal humidity level, between 30 and 50 per cent in indoor settings.