Preparing Your House When Someone Has the Flu

The flu season starts sometime in the fall and continues until sometime in the spring, which is rather unfortunate because this means that it encompasses the whole of winter. For people who are confused about why this is such a huge problem, the answer is simple and straightforward – winter makes it much easier for flu to spread from person to person, meaning that people with sick family members need to take the proper precautions to protect their own personal well-being. In part, this is because people being stuck in close confines because of the cold weather makes for a prime breeding ground for the pathogen. However, it should also be noted that the cold can make the immune system less effective than it should be, thus making it easier for people to fall sick. Combined, this means that people are more susceptible to the flu in the winter than in the other seasons, which is why the proper preparations are so important.

How Can You Prepare Your House?

Here are some examples:

First and foremost, the person with the flu should make sure that they cough into a piece of tissue as much as possible, which should be tossed into the trash as soon as it has been used. This is because something as simple as a cough can send the pathogen shooting outwards for six feet or more, which is rather problematic when the flu spreads through contact. By making sure that they cough into a piece of tissue, people who are sick can slow the rate at which the pathogen spreads throughout their surroundings.

Second, people with the flu who need to cough but have no piece of tissue with them should make sure to cough into the crook of their elbow rather than their hands, which will minimize the pathogens that will be spread throughout their surroundings when they touch something. Considering how much we are reliant on our hands for manipulating our surroundings, this is a precaution that seems inconsequential but can prove critical in the long run assessment of things.

On a related note, some of the people who fall sick with the flu are choosing to wear face masks so as to limit the spread of the pathogen responsible for the flu. Likewise, people in the same household are sometimes choosing to wear face masks as a way of keeping the same pathogen away from their faces. Such tools are not fool-proof because they cannot block the smallest particles, but they are useful for the rest, meaning that they are well-worth considering for households that want to avoid the flu and don’t mind some minor inconvenience in the process.

All members of the household should wash their hands after touching something that has come into contact with the person who is sick, which will reduce the chances of the pathogen entering their bodies by clinging onto their hands and then riding along when their hands touch their face. Please note that washing hands means more than holding the hands under running water. A proper washing of hands means scrubbing the back of the hands, between the fingers, and even under the fingernails for 20 seconds or longer with some kind of soap.

The pathogen responsible for the flu can survive for up to eight hours on a surface that has been touched by the person who is sick. As a result, it is difficult for the rest of the household to avoid coming into contact with said surfaces, which does not bode well for their chances of avoiding fall sick with the flu. However, there is a simple and straightforward solution in the form of isolating the person who is sick in a room that has been set up for their needs, which means drinks, medicines, tissues, and whatever else that they might need. This will minimize their contact with the rest of the household, which in turn, means minimizing the chances of the flu spreading from person to person. If the house has more than one bathroom, the person who is sick should have a bathroom to themselves as well, which can create complications but still prove better than having the entire household fall sick.

Shared items should be cleaned on a regular basis with something that is capable of killing the pathogen responsible for the flu. This means disinfecting agents such as alcohol, bleach, and hydrogen peroxide, but to be honest, soap and water should suffice for most cases as well. Please note that shared items include things that are often overlooked, with examples ranging from door knobs to remote controls, which are all things that people touch with their hands on a regular basis.

Getting vaccinated is another good way for people to protect themselves from the flu. Granted, the flu vaccination is not perfect because there will be more than one strain of flu spreading throughout the general population, but it should provide outstanding protection from the most common strains out there, which in turn, should enable most of the people who choose to get vaccinated most of the time. Doing so is particularly important when someone in a family cannot get vaccinated for the flu for whatever reason because by getting themselves, their family members will extend some of that protection to them in the form of herd immunity, which basically means that they will have an easier time avoiding the flu when the people around them are not spreading the pathogen.

Finally, people who are in better health will have a much easier time fending off the pathogen responsible for the flu. As a result, if someone in the family is sick, the rest of the household should start exercising increased care and consideration regarding their diet, their exercising, and their sleep patterns. Nutritious diet, regular exercise, and sufficient sleep are all things that make their immune systems stronger, which in turn, means a respectable improvement in their ability to stay healthy during this time of year.

Final Thoughts

There are other ways to lower the chances of a flu spreading throughout a household besides those mentioned here. As a result, interested individuals should conduct further research on their own, which will provide them with the knowledge that they need to protect themselves as well as the members of their family.

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