Best Products to Protect Against Coronavirus

According the CDC, diligent handwashing, social distancing, staying home as much as possible, limiting your social bubble, staying home when sick, and generally limiting your contact with the outside world is the best way for us to protect ourselves from covid-19. Looking for the best products to protect against covid-19 even so? I compiled a list below of some great products to help you and your family try your best to stay safe on top everything talked about before (ya know, the handwashing and social distancing stuff)!

iHealth No-Touch Thermometer (one-second measurement) 

As a parent, having a working thermometer in the house at all times is crucial. With three kids under 4, we have spent plenty of time rummaging around for that dang’ temp reader late at night only to struggle with a screaming toddler who doesn’t want to wait while the cold metal under their armpit reads if they are above 98.5 or not.

In the world of COVID-19, I find it even more appealing to have a quick and contactless thermometer handy. While temperature checking will identify some people with COVID-19, it won’t catch those who have novel coronavirus but are asymptomatic or haven’t developed symptoms yet. It doesn’t hurt to read temps when people come over – like grandparents or babysitters – but it isn’t everything.

Conclusion: Proper temperature checking can help prevent transmission of the coronavirus, but it is not the end-all-be-all. Social distancing, masks, well vented air/fresh air environment and extra good hand washing are most critical. Having a thermometer handy in the household with young kids is generally a good idea every day, anyway.

KN95 Masks (not to be confused with N95 masks used in the hospitals) 

KN95 masks do not meet the minimum particulate filtration efficiency of 95% in National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health testing. That means they cannot be used in hospitals for essential workers like doctors and nurses. Using these types of masks does not take away the PPE needed by those on the frontlines. Nevertheless we should all be wearing masks in public and in places of business or gatherings to protect EACH OTHER . I find these masks to be more comfortable than the homemade ones. To read more about the true difference between N95 and KN95, you can visit articles here and here. (Testing your quality of mask).

Disposable Ear Loop Face Mask (more bang for your buck at 50/box)

Countries that have successfully flattened the curve used masks in public. It is unfortunate that the U.S. was behind that curve, so to speak.

When an infected person (even if they don’t know it!) coughs or sneeze (or even talks loudly, sings or laughs) they can send *showers* of tiny droplets filled with the virus into the air. A single cough can produce up to 3,000 droplets. These smaller droplets can remain suspended in the air for hours (yes, HOURS!), where they can be breathed in by you and me.

Every time you go to the grocery store, post office, doctor’s office, salon or restaurant – just think of how many ten of people have been in there before you – breathing, coughing, laughing, speaking loudly. Yuck. If you could *SEE* novel coronavirus in the air around you – would you be so willynilly about going out? To protect your children, neighbor, friend, co-worker, elderly parents, community teachers, and everyone else pretty much – wear a mask. You don’t actually know if you have the virus or not, that’s the bottom line.

Should You Really Have a Pulse Oximeter at Home? The answer is that you probably don’t need one. But I am the kind of person who thinks – well – what if one day I need it? And that day is urgent? And I am regretful that I don’t have one? So I have one. So what is this gadget anyway? It is an electronic device that clips on your finger and measures heart rate and oxygen saturation. This type of reading is most useful in assessing patients with lung disease, not just the healthy human walking around. However, pulse oximeters started to fly off shelves as faster as toilet paper when folks started to learn that low oxygen saturation levels can be a sign of COVID-19. Yup. According to Kathy Katella at Yale Medicine “doctors report that some COVID-19 patients suddenly develop a condition called “silent hypoxia,” where people look and feel comfortable—and don’t notice any shortness of breath—but their oxygen levels are dangerously low…. That’s why some people may want or need to monitor their oxygen saturation levels at home.”

We have one just to be extra safe. I haven’t even taken it out of the packaging yet, but that doesn’t mean I won’t. As the country continues to open up and we all have higher rates of exposure events, this thing could come in extra handy.

There isn’t really anything special about soap. Soap actually works better than alcohol and disinfectants at destroying the structure of viruses. How does it kill novel coronavirus? Regular ol’ soap dissolves the fat membrane, and the virus falls apart — it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive to begin with. Viruses can be active outside the body for hours, even days. This type of soap dispenser isn’t special because of it’s soap but because of it’s touchless feature. If I could design my whole house to be touchless these days, I would. Just me? Thought so.

Face shields are probably going overboard for most people. But if you are getting on a plane or are at super high-risk (or take care of someone at super high-risk), they could be a really smart investment. The benefits of face shields? They can be quickly and affordably produced and distributed unlike super high-quality masks. Shields also protect you, not just people from you. Many experts think face shields be included as part of strategies to safely reduce novel coronavirus transmission in the community setting – they are easy to wear for longer period of times than some find masks to be, and can protect both the wearer and those around the wearer. Especially when combined with a masks also!

To be most effective in stopping viral spread, a face shield should extend to below the chin. It should also cover the ears and there should be no exposed gap between the forehead and the shield’s headpiece.

Face shields for kids. Maybe too much, maybe not. Kids might be more likely to wear face shields than masks, as they can be more comfortable to some. It also doesn’t tempt them to touch their face like an annoying mask can.

We are all talking about covering the mouth and nose and hand protection to stay safe from COVID-19 – while our eyes are like ‘hey, look at me!’ (well you can’t but, you know what I mean). Overlooking protection for our eyes is actually a big deal.

Our eyes are mucous membranes where germs can infect the body. The virus spreads when infected droplets from a sick person’s mouth or nose come in contact with another person’s face. Face masks are helping us a bit by protecting each other from us (and a tiny bit of protecting us from others), but face masks or goggles are the only way to protect our eyes from particular in the eye and reducing the chances we touch our eyes with hands that may have come in contact with the active virus.

You’d probably be overdoing it walking around with safety goggles on if you can be in fresh air and keep your safe distance from other people. However, if you have to be in a crowded (indoor – yikes!) environment for any significant period of time or you will be caring for someone who could be sick, goggles might be a good look on you.

Soap and water for 20 seconds is better than hand sanitizer, overall. But when in need, sanitizer is better than nothing at all. Not all hand sanitizers are made alike, aim for one with over 70% alcohol to work against the novel coronavirus.

Same same. Another good option for sanitizer.

Masks are a thing now, let’s face it. As we talked about above, masks help protect others from you – so we all need to be wearing them for that to work. Be kind. Be good. See it as a honor to help protect your community. And if my kids can look forward to doing f-ing liver shooter drills in preschool to protect your gun rights, you can wear a masks to protect others right to life.

If someone touches a surface that is contaminated with the active virus and then touches food or a cleaned and sanitized food surface, or their face/mouth it makes no difference if they wear gloves or not.

Contamination can happen whether or not you are wearing gloves. HOWEVER, I find that I am more conscious of what I am touching and when, when I am wearing gloves. I also do not touch my face, ever, with gloves.

I wash my hands ONE MILLION times a day right now, and wearing gloves for the right things, at the right times, allows me to skip a hand wash and my skin thanks me. I keep gloves in my car and in the stroller just in case, but don’t tend to use them at home.

These non-contact thingamajiggers are a great way to save you from a hand washing or hand sanitizing, especially when and if you don’t have access to that right away. Minimizing the amount of things you touch out in public, the better.

As mentioned before, hand washing with soap and water is one of the best defenses we have against the novel coronavirus. However, there are times we don’t have a bar of soap lying around. These travel soap sheets are perfect for those time – you can use a bottle of water, a hose, natural waterways (a clean river, lake or pond) or a sink (that didn’t happen to provide you with it’s normally found friend ‘soap’) when in a pinch. Especially when everyone is out and about this summer – these babies are going to come in super handy.