Coronavirus Checklist to Prevent the Spread

Coronavirus Checklist to Prevent the Spread

A leading Adelaide trauma doctor has shared a simple checklist to help keep coronavirus out of your home.

Dr Bill Griggs, a South Australian of the year and former head of trauma services at the Royal Adelaide Hospital, has 25 tips to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The list ranges from things as simple as “regularly washing your hands” to wiping down your car door handle and steering wheel.

Griggs has based the list on information from the World Health Organisation and says even if you don’t need all the detail, it may still contain some useful advice.

The tips are divided into three categories: leaving home, while out and arriving home.

Leaving home

  • Plan to minimise time away from home
  • Remove elbow, hand and arm wear (eg jewellery, watches, rings)
  • Wear short sleeves
  • Leave your wallet/handbag behind
  • Only take the keys you need
  • Your phone goes into a zip-lock bag. Avoid using your phone as much as possible while out
  • Credit card and photo ID go into zip-lock bags too
  • Limit social media. You can manage without it for a while.
  • Wear shoes that live outside your door (or just inside your door if you must). Put them on as you leave. Choose enclosed shoes.
  • If you are going to work, take your own food in a disposable bag. Take a full water bottle too in case you get thirsty.
  • Ensure an easily cleanable, reasonable-sized plastic box is at your door
  • All your personal items go into a second plastic box kept in the one spot in the car

While out

  • Don’t touch your face
  • Don’t touch anything with your hands that you absolutely don’t need to
  • Assume everything may be contaminated. Think: knobs and handles, rails, buttons/switches, steering wheels and gear shifts, chest-height door surfaces and any item that can be lifted and moved
  • Decontaminate your hands regularly: handwashing with soap is best or use sanitiser
  • Push doors, preferably with feet – if not, use your shoulder/elbow
  • When your face itches (it will), rub it with your upper arm. Practice it at home!
  • Avoid eating in any communal space. No drinks unless you brought them with you
  • Try not to eat or drink while out at all unless you are at work
  • At store checkouts do not use cash. Use contactless payment. If you need to use your PIN try to use a knuckle or maybe a ring finger

Arriving home

  • Get your items out of your car box/bag
  • No hugs or close greetings yet
  • Remove shoes and leave at the door
  • Empty the contents of your paper bags and zip-lock bags into the home box
  • Throw the bags away
  • Wash your hands and forearms thoroughly
  • Clean the items in the home box one at a time – phone, cards etc. Use liberal soap and water, sanitiser gel or alcohol-based cleaning product. Have a clean spot to place each one after cleaning
  • Clean the plastic box
  • Clean the car: wipe door handle, steering wheel, gear shift, seatbelt and any surfaces you may have touched
  • Clean the car box too
  • Wash your hands and forearms again. You should be all good now

Griggs says it is also important to note that you can clean the plastic (zip-lock) bags thoroughly to reuse them if you want.

Many of his tips have also been implemented at a commercial level – major supermarkets have moved to increase the PIN limit for contactless card payments to slow the spread of COVID-19.

Article reproduced from https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/health-wellbeing/coronavirus-checklist-to-help-prevent-the-spread-within-your-home-c-959207