Stop the Spread: Help Keep Your Family and Community Safe By Preventing the Spread of Respiratory Viruses

The weather may still be warm, but respiratory viruses in Ohio don’t mind. With COVID-19 rates high in Ohio and flu and RSV season getting closer, TCHD wants to remind you that now is the time to take steps to help your family stay healthy.

 

This is Public Health is brought to you in partnership with the Tuscarawas County Health Department.

 

 

 

 

Prevent Contracting a Respiratory Virus

 

CDC recommends that all people use core prevention strategies. These are important steps you can take to protect yourself and others:

• Stay up to date with immunizations
• Practice good hygiene (practices that improve cleanliness)
• Take steps for cleaner air

Additional prevention strategies you can choose to further protect yourself and others include:

• Masks
• Physical distancing
• Tests

 

Prevent the Spread

For many of us, contracting a respiratory virus is unavoidable. If we do get sick, it’s important to do what we can to prevent the spread of of these viruses that can be deadly for some.

The CDC provides some helpful advice for everyone who wants to do their part to keep their community healthy:

• Know the Signs: These can include chest discomfort, chills, cough, decrease in appetite, diarrhea, fatigue (tiredness), fever or feeling feverish, headache, muscle or body aches, new loss of taste or smell, runny or stuffy nose, sneezing, sore throat, vomiting, weakness, wheezing.
• Stay Home! If you suspect that you may have contracted a respiratory virus, stay home until you are certain that you are no longer contagious. When you are at home, do your best to stay away from people you live with as well.

You can go back to your normal activities when, for at least 24 hours, both are true:

• Your symptoms are getting better overall, and
• You have not had a fever (and are not using fever-reducing medication)
• When you go back to your normal activities, take added precaution over the next 5 days, such as taking additional steps for cleaner air, hygiene, masks, physical distancing, and/or testing when you will be around other people indoors. This is especially important to protect people with factors that increase their risk of severe illness from respiratory viruses.

 

 

Encourage a Healthy Workplace

 

Employees Can Encourage Organizations to adopt healthy policies such as:

• Advise people to stay home if they are sick.
• Provide employees with paid time off and develop flexible leave and telework policies to support workers to stay home if sick or to care for sick family members.
• Adopt flexible cancellation or refund policies for customers who are sick.

We can all do our part to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses and keep our communities safe and healthy.  If you have questions about infection prevention, reach out to the Tuscarawas County Health Department at 330-343-5555, ext. 1720.