Stay home, stock up on medicines and food, DON’T touch elevator buttons or door handles: CDC orders the elderly and sick to ‘take action’ to protect themselves against coronavirus
Centers for Disease Control issued new advice for older people and those with heart disease, diabetes and lung problems to protect against coronavirus
Agency has ordered the elderly and sick to stock up on medications and avoid large crowds, cruise ships and airplanes
They should also avoid touching door handles, hand rails and elevator buttons in public places
People should also stockpile food, medicine, and plan to be confined to homes
In the US, there are now more than 750 cases of coronavirus and 26 deaths
By CHRIS PLEASANCE
DAILYMAIL.COM
10 March 2020
The Centers for Disease Control has ordered the elderly and sick to stock up on medications and avoid large crowds, cruise ships and airplanes in order to protect themselves against coronavirus.
The elderly and those with underlying health conditions should also avoid touching door handles, hand rails and elevator buttons in public places, according to the advice on the CDC’s website.
Other advice includes stocking up on enough medication and food to ‘stay at home for a period of time’.
‘If a COVID-19 outbreak happens in your community, it could last for a long time,’ the advice warning says.
In the US, there are now more than 750 cases of coronavirus and 26 deaths.
The CDC issued the new advice for vulnerable people on Monday, stemming from an early study of 70,000 Chinese coronavirus patients.
The advice is directed towards ‘older people’ and those with serious underlying health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and lung disease.
While the CDC does not specify what qualifies as an ‘older person’, it says the virus can be serious in those above 60, and most serious in those aged 80 or older.
In order to protect themselves against the disease, vulnerable people should wash their hands thoroughly, avoid touching their face, and regularly clean ‘high-touch’ surfaces in their own home.
Tables, doorknobs, light switches, handles, desks, toilets, faucets, sinks and cell phones should all be cleaned regularly, the CDC says.
If coronavirus starts spreading through a local community, vulnerable people should stay at home as much as possible – particularly avoiding large crowds and poorly ventilated spaces.
‘Consider ways of getting food brought to your house through family, social, or commercial networks,’ the advice says.
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