Throughout the pandemic, many of us have changed the way we think about hygiene and making sure we do everything possible to stay safe and healthy. The things we learnt when we were young and are common sense to us now have all been reinforced during the pandemic. This includes washing our hands after going to the bathroom or before eating at the dinner table.

Various illnesses can spread when someone who is sick coughs or sneezes on you, or they touch a surface and you touch it shortly after, like a doorknob, phone or handrail.

To reduce your chance of getting any kind of sickness you should keep up these great habits:

• Regularly wash or sanitise your hands, especially before and after eating (where possible, you should carry hand sanitiser with you when you leave the house)
• Try to avoid touching your face as much as possible – this is how some viruses enter the body
• Stay home if you’re feeling sick and get tested
• Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or your elbow, but make sure you throw the tissue in a bin straight away
• Avoid hugging, kissing or shaking hands with someone if you or they are not feeling well
• clean busy areas in your home if someone isn’t feeling well (you can find some tips and tricks for cleaning high-traffic areas on the Queensland Health website)
• Try and keep two big steps away from other people as much as possible.

It is also important to also remember all the things we knew before the pandemic are still true now, and we should keep them in mind in the weeks, months and years to come. These are thing like:

• It will always be safe to visit your doctor or hospital for medical appointments
• It is okay to ask for help if you need it – we have some great mental wellbeing resources on our website, like our Dear Mind campaign
• Health appointments may continue to be available in different forms from different service providers, including appointments over-the-phone, video calls from your GP and getting your prescriptions online
• Getting moving is great for your mental and physical wellbeing (check out the Healthy at Home website for some great exercise tips and recipe ideas for a healthy mind and a happy body).

Article excerpt is taken from health.qld.gov.au