[Infographic] "Wear a Mask!” Plus 3 Other Safety Tips During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Here are more dos and don’ts in wearing a mask:

• Make sure your mask fits your face. It should be made with at least two layers of fabric to be more effective at blocking small particles.
  
• Discontinue wearing a mask if it causes difficulty in breathing. To continue working even without a mask, choose a location where the air circulates well and where you can maintain physical distance from others.
  
• Avoid masks with exhalation valves. Yes, it’s easier to breathe if your mask has an air vent, but it also causes the release of unfiltered air, which may be harmful to those around you.
  
• Before touching your face mask, wash your hands with soap and water. You should also wash your cloth mask daily with soap or detergent and hot water, and only reuse it when it has dried completely. A wet mask can make breathing harder and promote the growth of microorganisms.
  
  

If you’re wearing glasses, choose masks that have a bendable border at the top. This makes it possible for you to adjust the fit of the mask at the bridge of your nose and prevent your glasses from fogging.

2. Wash your hands

   The virus that causes COVID-19 can be transmitted to you when you touch objects, surfaces, or hands that haven’t been disinfected. In the same manner, you can spread germs when you cough or sneeze into your hands and then touch someone else’s hands or common objects. Good handwashing practices can minimize these risks.

   Washing your hands with soap and water is the best way to physically remove germs from your hands. Wash your hands before eating your meals, after contact with high-touch surfaces like building elevators and doors, and after using the toilet.

3. Use hand sanitizers

   You might be asking: what’s the difference between cleaning your hands with soap and water and cleaning them with hand sanitizers?

   Hand sanitizers are disinfectants that kill germs, but they don’t remove microbes from your skin like soap and water do.

   Then again, alcohol-based hand sanitizers can be a good alternative if it’s not possible to wash your hands with soap and water. This is because the main ingredient used to make hand sanitizers—whether it’s isopropanol or ethanol—can kill a broad range of viruses and bacteria. Needless to say, using hand sanitizers is better than not having anything to clean your hands.

4. Practice social distancing

   With the re-opening of businesses, you’ll likely find yourself being in the company of other people as you travel to work or go to public places like banks, grocery stores, pharmacies, or restaurants to do some errands.

   According to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, physical or social distancing at 6 feet (2 meters) or more not only reduces the risk of close contact with people who may or may not be sick, but it also prevents prolonged contact with them.

   In an office that employs several people sitting next to each other, it only takes one person with the virus to infect others in the same floor or building, similar to what happened to employees working in a call center in South Korea.
   

It may still take some time before the COVID-19 pandemic ends, but you can always protect yourself, your loved ones, and the rest of your community from the novel coronavirus. And even if you have good health insurance in the Philippines, you’ll want to do everything possible to avoid getting sick.

Good hygiene and health practices like washing your hands often and wearing a mask when going outside are simple yet effective ways of fighting the virus.

To ease your worries about the pandemic, BPI AIA offers health insurance with benefits that can help you cope with the COVID-19 crisis. Schedule a virtual appointment with our Bancassurance Sales Executives to learn more.