Increasing Your Immunity to COVID, Public Health Measures

Melissa Diaz-Musa

The Ministry of Health and Wellness has spoken at length about COVID-19 health measures, such as wearing your mask, washing your hands and physical distancing, as means of preventing the spread of the virus. While Doctor Melissa Diaz-Musa reemphasizes what needs to be done by residents to protect themselves from COVID-19 and its variants, she says that for those with other illnesses aside from COVID, you must continue to take your medications.

Dr. Melissa Diaz-Musa, Deputy Regional Health Manager, Central Health Region

“In addition to our public health measures, in addition to of course getting your COVID-19 vaccine as quickly as possible and taking care of your family and vulnerable, we also want you to look at the approach for health and the holistic approach – taking care of your mental health, your physical being, controlling what you are eating, controlling what you are drinking and keeping your chronic disease as well-controlled as possible. If you’re a diabetic, if you’re a hypertensive, an asthmatic, if you have any chronic illness, continue taking your medication. More so now than ever, we want you to be well-controlled. We want your blood pressure to be well-controlled. So we do know that diabetes and hypertension very often are disease that may have no symptoms and many people find out that they are hypertensive by going to the doctor for a cough or a cold or some other ailment and at that point, then we would check the blood pressure and find it elevated. So if you have had a diagnosis of high blood pressure or diagnosis of high sugar, even if you feel well, continue to take your medication as your doctor has prescribed it. That’s very important because the better controlled you are, the better your body is able to fight off a disease. So your immunity increases if your blood sugar is well-maintained, if your blood pressure is controlled. If you don’t have complicated disease, you are better off to fight off an infection. Eating well, a balanced diet, reducing alcohol, don’t smoke. All these things contribute to wellness and to the holistic care that we are asking for persons to have at this time. Even with regards to the mental health issues that a lot of people are going through especially during COVID-19 times.”