Who do you live with

Tips for helping a family member or roommate cope with coronavirut effects, while protecting yourself và others.

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Editor’s note: Information on the COVID-19 crisis is constantly changing. For the lademo numbers and updates, keep checking the CDC’s website. For the most up-to-date information from Michigan Medicine, visit the hospital"s Coronavirut (COVID-19) webpage. 

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It’s happened, or at least you think it has. The tiny coronavirut that’s causing big problems around the world has made it into your trang chủ.

Someone you live with is siông chồng & you think it’s COVID-19. They need your help, but you don’t want khổng lồ get siông chồng too, or pass the vi khuẩn khổng lồ others.

What can you do?

Even if you don’t know for sure, assume they have sầu it.

Even though testing is more readily available now, until someone is tested, you won"t know for sure if your family thành viên or frikết thúc has coronavirut or something else.

But if they’re running a fever, hacking away with a ‘dry’ cough, or feeling super tired for no apparent reason, it’s quite possible they vị. Some less common but possible symptoms include diarrhea & suddenly losing their sense of smell or taste.

SEE ALSO: Are Digestive Issues a Symptom of COVID-19?

First: Gọi their regular doctor’s office, if they have one, or your county health department to report the symptoms and ask if they can get tested. If they can, you should help them get to a testing location. But make sure they, & you, wear a mask or cloth over both mouth và nose when you’re taking them. Keep the window of the oto cracked open a bit to let air circulate.

Even if they can’t get tested right now, or you’re waiting for their kiểm tra results, you’re better off taking the same precautions you would take if you knew that they had the virut.

- Don’t go within 6 feet of the siông chồng person unless they, or you, have covered both mouth & nose with a mask or cloth. Stay out of the same room as them, và give them a dedicated space.

- Make sure the siông xã person coughs into lớn their mask or cloth, or their elbow or a tissue, khổng lồ keep virut particles out of the air. Dispose of tissues after one use.

- Clean your hands often & thoroughly with soap or alcohol rub.

- Clean surfaces with soap or disinfectants.

- Don’t touch your face unless you’ve sầu just cleaned your hands.

You can safely help them cope with their symptoms at home, while protecting yourself và anyone else you live with.

“When you’re living with someone who you think or know has COVID-19, you should tư vấn them physically và emotionally, while at the same time avoiding getting cthảm bại, touching them or touching things they have sầu touched that haven’t been cleaned yet,” says Tammy Chang, M.D., M.P..H., M.S., assistant professor of Family Medicine at Michigan Medicine. “And be sure to lớn kiểm tra on them often, either by phone or without entering their room all the way, because they can take a turn for the worse very quickly.”

If you know someone who lives alone & has symptoms, ask if you can help with some of these same things without entering their home more than needed. Cheông chồng on them frequently by phone or text, và offer to drop off food, medicines or things to help make them comfortable.

For most people, a coronavi khuẩn infection will lay them low for a couple of weeks. Talk to lớn their regular doctor about what to lớn expect, but if you or someone you live sầu with or know has these symptoms, it"s time to seek emergency care:

- Trouble breathing

- Chest pain or pressure that doesn’t go away

- Confusion or can’t be woken up

- Blue color in their lips or face

If they, or you, have a higher risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19, be especially watchful for these symptoms.

Caring for a COVID-19 patient at home

Think like a combination of nurse & hotel room service.

For more than 100 years, nurses và other health care workers have sầu followed basic steps to lớn take care of people with contagious diseases, while protecting themselves from infections.If someone you live sầu with has COVID-19 symptoms but isn’t sichồng enough to need a hospital, now it’s your turn lớn provide “supportive sầu care” while protecting your health.

Here are 14 ways how:

1. Pick a ‘sick room’: The siông xã person should stay in a bedroom with a door if at all possible, & not come out except khổng lồ go lớn the bathroom. No one else should spend time in that room more than absolutely necessary. Children & pets should stay out. Keep a window open in the siông xã room if possible, khổng lồ keep air circulating. Provide tissues.If you don’t have sầu more than one bedroom, give sầu them the bedroom, & you can sleep on the couch or other temporary spot lượt thích an inflatable mattress, so you can still use the living room, kitchen & other spaces while they stay in their room.

2. Piông chồng a ‘sichồng bathroom’: If you have sầu two bathrooms, make one of them the siông xã person’s bathroom, & don’t let anyone else use it. If you don’t have two, you’re going khổng lồ have lớn clean every surface they touch after they go khổng lồ the bathroom, so it’s clean when you or other people you live with need to use it. (see cleaning tips below.) And don’t giới thiệu water cups.

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3. Help them trachồng their symptoms: Have sầu them take their temperature several times a day, without getting close khổng lồ them. Write down the readings, and note when new symptoms occur.

4. Help them hydrate: Make sure they’re drinking a lot of water và other non-alcoholic clear liquids.

5. Ease their symptoms: Help them underst& how often they can take medicine to reduce their fever, lượt thích acetaminophen và ibuprofen. (Michigan Medicine physicians have sầu reviewed the evidence about these medications and others that have been in the news for COVID-19; see more information here.) Make sure the siông xã person understands how much to take – read the label on the bottle and follow it. If they have a bad cough, help them understvà how much cough medicine to take và when.Don’t let them take more than the recommended dose of any medicine, or use alcohol when taking a medicine that advises against it. Keep traông chồng of what the siông chồng person has taken & when.Make sure they keep taking any other medicines they would usually take, unless their doctor has told them to lớn stop.

6. Keep them comfortable and entertained, while keeping your distance: Make sure they have sầu blankets và pillows, books, magazines, & a computer or TV to pass the time, và a charger for their phone near their bed, so you don’t have sầu to lớn go in & out of the room. Keep the house or apartment quiet so they can sleep.

7. Help them with food, but keep your distance: Find a tray or cookie sheet that you can use khổng lồ bring them food or drinks when they need it.

If they can get out of bed: Put the food & drinks on the tray, & place it outside their closed door. Walk away. They can open the door, get the tray, eat in their room, và then put the tray bachồng on the floor outside the door và cđại bại it.

If they can’t get out of bed: Wear a mask or cloth over your mouth & nose when you go in their room, and have them cover theirs too. Bring their food & drink lớn their bedside table, and go baông xã after a while to pichồng it up again, wearing a mask or cloth again. Wash their dishes thoroughly with hot water and soap. Don’t touch your face after handling their dishes, và wash your hands thoroughly after you touch anything they ate or drank from.

8. Keep their laundry separate: Bring changes of clothes và pajamas to lớn them if they’re not already in the siông xã room. Get your clothes out of the sick room if they’re usually stored there.Make sure they have a basket, hamper or bag in the sichồng room to put clothes, towels, washcloths & bedding in. Have them put it outside their door when it’s full, or wear a mask or cloth over your mouth & nose when you go in to lớn get it. Wash their clothes, towels & bedding separately from anyone else’s.

9. Clean, clean, clean: Go through your entire trang chính & use disinfectant spray or wipes khổng lồ clean everything the sichồng person might have sầu touched when they were in the early stages of getting sick, or when they were contagious before developing symptoms.This includes tables, hard-backed chairs, doorknobs, light switches, remote controls, handles on cabinets and refrigerators, desks, toilets, sinks, computer keyboards & mice, tablets, & more. Wash things they wore or used in the days before you isolated them in the ‘sick room.’

SEE ALSO: Viruses Live sầu on Doorknobs và Phones and Can Get You Sichồng – Smart Cleaning và Good Habits Can Help Protect You

10. Say no to lớn visitors: You shouldn’t be having guests over anyway, or people working inside your trang chính. If you have lớn see someone in person, bởi it outside your trang chủ, preferably outdoors, and stay at least six feet away from them. If they’re bringing you something, ask them to lớn put it down & step away so you can piông chồng it up.

11. Use technology lớn connect: It may seem silly lớn bởi a đoạn phim chat or voice Điện thoại tư vấn with someone in the next room, but it can give the sick person human contact with you, your children or pets, & others in the trang chủ, without spreading the vi khuẩn. Make sure they can connect virtually with others, too – including relatives, friends, coworkers & faith organizations. This can ease the awfulness of being siông xã & stuông chồng in one room.

12. Stay trang chính yourself: Now that you & others in your home page have had contact with someone who has or might have COVID-19, you could carry the virut with you to work or the store, even if you don’t have sầu symptoms.Tell your boss you have sầu someone in your trang chủ with symptoms, và ask if this means you should stay home page or wear a mask at work. Plan lớn order delivery from restaurants & grocery stores, or ask friends or family if they are able to siêu thị for you, and leave the items outside your front door. If those options aren"t available, wear a mask over your mouth và nose & make as few trips as possible.If you have a yard, garden, patio, balcony or porch, spend time there khổng lồ get outdoors, but stay six feet away from anyone who doesn’t live with you.

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13. Don’t be afraid khổng lồ ask for help or moral support: It’s OK lớn let friends, neighbors and family know that someone you live sầu with is siông xã, and to lớn seek and accept their help while not letting them near the siông xã person. You don’t have sầu to lớn tell your whole social media network, but at least tell a few people you can rely on. They can bring you supplies from the ‘outside world’ & leave them on your doorstep, or ship them to you. They can walk your dog, though you should wipe down the leash first.

Don’t forget that you need emotional support & connection to lớn help you get through your time as a COVID-19 caregiver. As the nation works lớn fight the spread of the vi khuẩn, & care for the sick, we’re all affected in some way. But connecting with one another in safe ways can help us cope.

14. After they’re better: Someone who has had COVID-19, whether they got tested or not, should stay home and away from others until they meet the following criteria: As of July 2, 20đôi mươi, CDC guidelines state that if you think or know someone has had COVID-19, they can be with others only after they’ve been fever-không lấy phí, without medication, for three days AND their respiratory symptoms have improved (this includes coughing or shortness of breath) AND it has been 10 days since their symptoms first appeared. The CDC also states that people who have sầu been around someone with confirmed or suspected COVID-19 should stay trang chủ for 14 days after that exposure.

Afterward, you, & they, should vày a thorough cleaning of the ‘siông chồng room’, including wiping down all hard surfaces, washing bedding including blankets, và vacuuming.

For more about caring for someone with known or suspected COVID-19, & for CDC guidelines for asymptomatic carriers, those who are immunocompromised (have sầu weakened immune systems) và those who think they have sầu been exposed lớn the coronavirut, visit the CDC’s trang web. 

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