Earlier this week, in light of recent events worldwide, regarding the Coronavirus outbreak, we ran a poll asking people if Americans should be worried about this situation.

Here are the results:

It seems more Americans are afraid of #FridayThe13th that an a health and safety threatening pandemic with unprecedented effects.

🌡️ Why is Coronavirus so dangerous and why should you care?

A pandemic is the “worldwide spread of a new disease,” – Ellen Foxman, MD, Ph.D., a Yale Medicine clinical pathologist and researcher of viral infections and microorganisms in the Clinical Virology Laboratory, tells CNET.

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the Mission briefing on COVID-19 – as of March 12, 2020 – states that “As you know, yesterday I said that that the global COVID-19 outbreak can now be described as a pandemic. This is not a decision we took lightly. We have made this assessment for two main reasons: first, because of the speed and scale of transmission. Almost 125,000 cases have now been reported to WHO, from 118 countries and territories. In the past two weeks, the number of cases reported outside China has increased almost 13-fold, and the number of affected countries has almost tripled. The second reason is that despite our frequent warnings, we are deeply concerned that some countries are not approaching this threat with the level of political commitment needed to control it.”

The exponential speed of the Coronavirus needs to be addressed by each and everyone of us in order to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. This is not a drill. We love memes, but this is not funny. We don’t want to alarm you, but educating people about prevention is our way to contribute to the greater good. 

💊 How can we protect ourselves from Coronavirus?

This being said, the first step is staying informed

Get up to date on #Coronavirus so you can learn about how you can keep your home, school, workplace, and places of worship safe. Looking for reliable COVID-19 info? Stick with the experts! Monitor the CDC website and arm yourself with facts  in order to prevent panicking due to misleading information on social media. 

Step two: simple precautions go a long way

• Wash your hands with soap or use a hand sanitizer that contains alcohol.
  • Washing your hands correctly for 20 seconds – perfect time to teach your kids about daily personal protective measures
  • You can even put posters on your doors, reminding everyone on your family to do this more often
  • The CDC recommends using a hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol, as lower concentrations of alcohol aren’t as effective at killing germs.
• Sneeze and cough into tissues or the crook of your elbow. 
• Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick, especially people exhibiting respiratory symptoms and fever.
• Limit close interactions – it might sound scary and you’ll have some adjustments to make, but social responsibility is lays on everyone’s shoulders.
  • Stay home when you’re sick
  • Avoid non-essential travel
  • Work from home if possible
  • Avoid large gatherings of people
  • Have extra food at home and a supply of any medications you take regularly
• Thoroughly clean surfaces, such as counter tops and doorknobs, phones or desktops with a disinfectant

📱 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers your phone a “high-touch surface”

What do we touch constantly, not only with our hands, but with our faces, too? Our phones. Keeping them clean is of utter importance in preventing the spread of viruses and pathogens and doing it right is also one of the main concerns. 

💦 How to keep your phone clean and protected against Coronavirus

• Don’t use alcohol on your electronics 
  • Screens often have a special coating to protect the device from oils and water, which rubbing alcohol can slowly erode.
• Don’t use spray cleaner directly on the device or speakers
• Don’t use bleach 
  • “Avoid getting moisture in any opening, and don’t submerge your Apple product in any cleaning agents. Don’t use on fabric or leather surfaces” – according to Apple
• Remove your phone from your case and turn off the power
• Use a microfiber cloth to polish
  • Apple recommends using a lens cloth, the sort you might use to clean your glasses. If you have an iPhone 7 or higher, which are more water resistant, you can also use a cloth with a small amount of warm soapy water, as long as you avoid getting that water into openings on the phone.
• If you are worried about screen damage, one idea is to buy a cheap screen protector and use Clorox or Lysol wipes to clean it. Gently wipe down the back and sides of the phone, too.
• Don’t forget about the phone case – do the same as above. 

Stay safe, guys!