dailygaelley

This pandemic is crazy. We’re about 5 months into this quarantine and it hasn’t been easy. There’s this constant fear of being contaminated and causing more illness.

As a medical professional and a former Patient Care Management college instructor who discussed sterile techniques, I thought I knew all there was to proper protection and infection control. I honestly never thought that I could apply severe protective measures outside a sterile area of a hospital. Man, was I wrong.

In the medical field, once you doubt an object’s sterility or cleanliness, it’s immediately considered unsterile or contaminated. This line of thinking is probably one of the reasons my overthinking and anxious self is crazy paranoid over everything right now.

What freaks me out even more is how nonchalant some people are about how alarming this virus is. Some even think it’s a hoax! In the Philippines, however, we’ve somehow managed to turn a pandemic into a lot of political issues. Movements like Solusyong Medikal, Hindi Militar came to light. To be fair, it is truly in these times that we see who’s worth voting for and those who simply ran just to rise to power.

Funnily enough, I realized I had a habit of over-cleansing and sanitizing long before this pandemic. In fact, my grandfather used to scold me because the alcohol smelled too strong whenever I’d spritz it onto my hand (which more or less occurred every 20 minutes or so). I remember him giving me a santizer and a moisturising hand cream in lieu of alcohol.

As of writing, there are 17.5 million confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. The Philippines’ battle against the pandemic has been dubbed as a “losing battle” after a surge of cases was recorded and health care providers in the country plead for Enhanced Community Quarantine for at least two weeks.

Davao City, just like the rest of the country, is fighting a surge of cases in the past month. As of August 2nd, the entire Davao Region has a total of 510 active Covid-19 cases, following a 4-day consecutive national increase of almost 5,000 cases. The Philippines currently has over 100,000 Covid-19 cases and that number unfortunately, is continuously rising.

While malls are slowly opening and more establishments are offering their services, civilians should remember that every time they go out for leisure or do something they can probably do at home (like eat, have manicures and pedicures, massages, and the like), they risk exposing themselves and their loved ones to the virus.

That being said, I think it’s important to remember that while most of our cities are shifting to MGCQ (Modified General Community Quarantine), it is absolutely imperative that we maintain proper habits during this pandemic. The first thing we have to remember is how important it is to STAY HOME if there isn’t any reason to actually go out.

I found a couple of habits helpful during this pandemic:

Sanitize everything.

If it’s been outside in this pandemic, chances are, it’s contaminated. I use Lysol to disinfect anything that has been outside our home. I spray it onto the surface of the object or a paper towel, and wipe the item using one direction only. Mixing directions might contaminate or mix bacteria along the surface of the object.

Have a separate area for contaminated items.

We’ve managed to put together an area outside our house specifically for daily contaminated items such as outside shoes, outside bags and other items we use often when we have to go out.

Only bring essentials with you when you go out.

Here’s a list of items I bring with me when I go out: two facemasks (an extra just in case), two spray bottles of 70% Isopropyl Alcohol, one spray bottle filled with Lysol, tissue, wet wipes, my PRC ID/ FM Pass, my wallet, my own pen and an extra eco-bag. Oh, and my phone, too.

Why is it important to bring the following items?

First off, you never know how much alcohol you’ll need to use. I spritz some on my hand every couple of minutes and it’s just important to have some on hand anytime. A bottle filled with Lysol is for disinfecting items such as grocery carts, door handles and etc. Tissue is for wiping the Lysol and an extra eco-bag is for those days when you need to put something in it. NCCC Supermarket and HB1 Pharmacies have a No-Plastic Mondays movement and it’s handy to have some on-hand.

The personal pen is also important because the pen establishments offer can be a vector of transmission. When we go out, a couple of establishments, ask you to fill out contact tracing forms and just to be on the safe side, it’s better to use your own pen.

Cover your phone with Cling Wrap.

Now, this habit is just an extra step for me. Before going out, I make it a point to wrap my phone cling wrap, since I will most likely use it a lot when I’m outside.

I have a mental note of never putting the phone near my face and spritzing some alcohol on my hands whenever I touch it. I bring my phone because I often get tasked to do groceries or buy medicine for my grandparents and my lola likes doing video calls while I shop. I still, however, bathe my phone in Lysol after taking out the cling wrap and before using it inside the house.

Make sure to use proper disinfectants and sterile techniques.

Our house has been invaded by almost all Betadine products. My favorites are the Betadine Skin Cleanser and the Betadine Gargle. (BTW, this post is in no way sponsored, I just honestly believe in the products mentioned.)

As someone who used to frequent doctors’ clinics because of my tonsillitis and allergies, I was advised by my ENT to use Betadine Gargle everyday to prevent my tonsillitis from recurring. I like the Gargle because it always makes my mouth feel clean after and it’s something I know won’t aggravate any symptoms I might have (if there are any). Once you get past the initial “yikes what a gross color to gargle” thing, it’s pretty easy to maintain.

Now, the Betadine Skin Cleanser is ideally used to cleanse wounds and basically make the healing process faster. However, when you read the outer portion of the bottle, it clearly states that it is a “rapid germicidal skin cleanser which may be used as a protective measure against infections due to MRSA, flu (influenza, Avian flu, Swine flu), SARS-coronavirus, colds (rhinovirus, coronavirus), and ebola.”

I don’t know about you guys, but that sounds legitimate enough for me. Also, it helps that it makes my skin feel 100% clean after each use. My mum also found the Betadine Body Wash and bought the big bottle. We also use that after every instance we go out.

Overall, this pandemic has truly defined who we really are.

What’s important is what we’ve done during this time and whether or not we’ve somehow helped people around us. It is a period of radical change all throughout the world and as I’ve said before, whatever we’ve done during this time will define us as a nation and as an entire race.

It’s important to question ourselves during this time. Would we rather be remembered as people who pulled each other down and pit people against each other or be remembered as people who came together in the face of adversity.

It’s already August and we’ve still got a long way to go with this pandemic. How do you want to remember this period?

On a lighter note, I hope my tips and tricks will help you and your loved ones! Got more tips for me? Let me know in the comments!