Healthy Living: Avoid Three Cs
Since the start of the pandemic, we have been exposed to a lot of medical advice on how to prevent contracting the novel coronavirus. Things like using masks and social distancing are now clearly outlined in recent laws, and we repeatedly hear health experts remind us to wash our hands. But when moving around in your day to day life, there is an easy way to assess your risk of exposure; that is, by avoiding what the World Health Organization calls the “Three C’s.” We’ll tell you more in tonight’s Healthy Living.
Marleni Cuellar, Reporting
By now, we all know that the main form of transmission of Covid-19 is through respiratory droplets of an infected person. Dr Kyle Habet of the Belize Institute of Neuroscience, explains why these tiny droplets that we can’t see make passing on the virus so easy.
Kyle Habet
Dr. Kyle Habet, Belize Institute of Neuroscience
“This is basically that the very tiny particles that you and I emit when we speak now these particles because they are very tiny they can travel to up to 6ft and they are invisible. Now not only they infect surfaces they can also transmit directly. So for example, if you are in close contact with a person is that not wearing a mask and has Covid-19 one of these tiny little droplets that you can’t see can possibly make its way unto your face onto your lips into your eyes. And the virus is transmitted that easily and then secondly on surfaces which also are invisible you can’t see the virus on surfaces, if you don’t practice proper hand hygiene and you touch an infected surface and forget about it, you can easily then put your hand in your mouth in your eyes and the virus can be transmitted like that. So that’s the reason it seems so easy to get it.”
Since the government lifted the countrywide state of emergency, we’ve all been adapting to life in a pandemic – even as the virus continues to spread within the country. Recently, the World Health Organization offered three easy-to-follow rules to help you avoid becoming infected. They call it, “Avoiding The Three Cs.” These C‘s include the high-risk settings for transmission. The first is to:
1) AVOID CROWDED PLACES
Dr. Kyle Habet
“The reason you want to avoid crowded places, to begin with, is because as we mentioned there is that 6-foot radius can travel. So if you are in a situation where you can’t maintain that 6-foot distance from someone, then that is going to be a high-risk environment for catching the virus.”
2) AVOID CLOSE CONTACT SETTINGS
Dr. Kyle Habet
“This is not necessarily crowded places, what this refers to, is if you’re in a room and there are only six people. These six people are not people you live with. If you are working in a small office for example, and there are six people that you don’t live with what you want to avoid is shoulder to shoulder contact with these people that are not in your inner bubble at home because that increases your risk for contracting the virus from an asymptomatic carrier.”
Doctor Habet stresses that you should avoid close contact even with people who appear healthy as they can be asymptomatic or they may not have developed symptoms as yet and still pass on the virus. Lastly,
3) AVOID CONFINED AND ENCLOSED SPACES
Dr. Kyle Habet
“Even though we know a lot about the transmission of itself. The information is still incomplete. So what we recommend is to be in outdoor spaces with proper ventilation as opposed to an enclosed space with poor ventilation. Even though the mode of transmission is mainly through respiratory droplets, it is theorised it could possibly be airborne to a small degree so to minimise the risk via the airborne route. It is preferred to just have proper ventilation when you go outside, for example. The three Cs are all related to avoid a situation in which you are in close contact with the biggest threat, which is an infected person.”
Marleni Cuellar
“And be cautious even with your close friends and love ones?”
Dr. Kyle Habet
“Exactly, like I said, the reason why you wear your mask is to be socially responsible, but the main line of defence is always to practice disinfecting surfaces if you go to the grocery store for example and to regularly disinfect your hands and your surfaces. That is your first line of defence as a healthy individual.”
Avoiding all the three C’s reduces your risk of exposure. It does not though replace all the other public health advice we have gotten so far.
Dr. Kyle Habet
“If I wear the mask, then I’m technically protecting myself but the way to think about it, is that those around you need to have on their mask to protect you. So sometimes if you just look at it at a different point of view, it’s going to be a little better accepted. Just the human nature of people they tend to think about themselves before they think about others. It’s very easy to get a false sense of security when you have on your mask but if you in contact with an infected surface that someone coughed on and they have the virus, and you touch it and then you rub your eyes you’re going to infect yourself with the virus. If you are a healthy individual that does not have Covid-19, you are going to want to avoid those public spaces and wash your hands cause that is going to be your first line of defence against COVID-19.”
Masks, social distancing, frequent hand washing and avoiding the three C’s all work well together. And they work best when everyone in the community does the same.
