1. Wash your hands, for goodness’s sake.
The hands are both wondrous and supremely gross body parts. Even without a pandemic going around, the average square centimeter on your hand harbors 1,500 different germs and viruses. Now, imagine touching a subway pole, a bus window, an elevator button and then the hundreds and thousands of people whose hands also bear 1,500 germs per square centimeter touching them before you do. Therefore, if you come in contact with public properties, don’t come in contact with anything else until you’ve disinfected yourself.
2. Please stop hoarding toilet paper.
To quote The Daily Show host Trevor Noah on the matter: “People, what are you DOING?” Don’t get me wrong, videos of people boxing it out in Walmart aisles for toilet paper has comedic value up to a point, the point being 30 seconds in. After that, it’s just dystopian.
If you need to stock up, go for medicine, food, water — the necessities. Just don’t resell it at a 300% price increase — that’s just mean.
3. Get rid of your mask stigma.
To stop the spread of a virus that travels through respiratory droplets (or, in layman’s terms, snot and saliva), the first and seemingly most natural step is to cover up these sources of respiratory droplets: the nose and mouth.
While the fashion has been embraced in many parts of the world, it has seemingly been rejected in North American countries. Even though there are arguments as to whether masks actually “catch” the virus, wouldn’t you rather to have some barrier between yourself and other people, just in case one of you is infected? It is not just about the individual wearing the mask, it is a conscious effort to protect everyone else around them.
A way to do this without buying up and hoarding masks (which, tragically, has already begun to happen, alongside the toilet paper stampede) is to use washable cloth face mask.
And, as a counter to the argument of mask creating an atmosphere of fear, I say: the real atmosphere of fear is going out there without knowing whether you will come into contact with the virus, but knowing that you would be completely exposed and utterly defenseless. There is a fine line between caution and paranoia. Define it with a mask.
4. Clean your phone and laptop, just to be safe.
Working alongside the logic of washing your hands, sanitize your phone, laptops, and other frequently touched surfaces every once in a while. Though they probably won’t make you sick, work it in your routine just as a precaution, in case they have somehow been exposed to infected respiratory droplets.
And, just as a courtesy in a time of great distress, when you need to use other’s phone or laptops, clean your hands beforehand. And afterward. Always afterward.
