Keeping Your Family Safe During the COVID Pandemic: 5 Helpful Tips

As a parent, the most you want is to keep your children safe from any danger, including a pandemic. 

In this article, we will provide accurate information given by health authorities to keep you and your loved ones safe during the COVID pandemic. 

Teaching and encouraging preventive actions to your family

According to the CDC guidelines, good hygiene, social distancing, and wearing a mask in public spaces are some of the best preventive measures to avoid getting COVID-19.

Children need time and consistency when adapting to a new routine. Here are some tips for you to help implement preventive actions in their lives: 

• Explain the importance of handwashing to children — why it is so efficient to stop the virus from spreading. 
• Explain how your kids should be washing their hands. Demonstrate it if possible.
• Be a good role model. Kids tend to follow by example, what you practice they are more likely to do.
• Teach your children how and why they need to practice social distance—

keeping a distance of 6 feet—when being out in public spaces. 

Encouraging and maintaining healthy habits

While being healthy won’t prevent you from getting sick, your recovery may be easier if you have a strong immune system.

We recommend the following measures to keep your family as healthy as possible:

Physical activity

• Practice outdoor activities (while social distancing), such as bike rides, skating and walks.
• Practice activities at home with your children, such as yoga and improvised dancing. Adults can also try Pilates and HIIT workouts.

Healthy nutrition

• Avoid ready-to-eat (processed) meals.
• Maintain your vegetable and fruit intake portions up.
• When fresh products are not available, opt for dried foods rather than canned products (they tend to be higher on salt and sugar).

Monitoring your family’s health

To avoid COVID from spreading within your family members, it is important to detect any symptoms at the early stages, so anyone infected can be separated from the rest.

COVID-19 symptoms are:

• Fever
• Cough
• Sore throat
• Difficulty breathing
• Fatigue and body aches
• Headache
• Loss of taste or smell
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea

If you suspect to have COVID-19, call a healthcare professional immediately; they will determine if you or your family needs COVID testing.

Protecting your family’s mental health 

Social distancing, shelter-in-place, switching to online school, or the death of a family member, are all drastic factors that can affect the mental health of both kids and adults. 

Here are some tips to help your child to cope with stress: 

• Help your child to stay socially connected through the internet or phone calls. 
• Spend quality time with your family — no work, no chores, just bonding activities. 
• Answer questions that your kid may have about COVID-19.
• Reassure your kids that they are safe. 
• Monitor their behavior. Watch out for signs of stress such as excessive sadness, unhealthy eating, bad sleeping habits, difficulty to focus, etc.
• Reach out for help. Reach to an online therapist if you think your kids need it. 

Following guidelines from official health authorities

Unfortunately, among the internet and even the news, there’s a lot of misinformation about the coronavirus disease— what is it, how does it spread, preventive medicines, etc. 

While some of these false facts can be harmless, others can jeopardize your health and contribute to the high spread of COVID-19. 

To keep your family safe during the coronavirus pandemic, we highly encourage you to follow the guidelines of official health authorities, such as the CDC.

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At BASS Urgent Care, we count with highly qualified healthcare professionals trained to help COVID-19 patients. If you have any doubts about COVID-19, you can now reach out to us today through our Urgent Care Online portal.