Infectious Lung Diseases

Talk to your healthcare provider to see if you and your family members are up to date on your vaccinations. Vaccines help prevent you from getting very sick, ending up in the hospital and death. It’s always better to prevent a disease rather than treat it after it occurs.

Hand-washing with soap and water is always preferred, but hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol works in a pinch.

When you cover your cough or sneeze cover your mouth and nose with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the garbage. If you don’t have tissue, sneeze or cough into your upper sleeve or elbow – but not your hands. Afterward, washing your hands.

Staying home, and away from other members of the household as much as possible, will help stop the infection from spreading to others. You can go back to your normal activities when your symptoms are improving, and you have not had a fever for at least a full day (without medication).

Prioritize cleaning for health, not appearance. Disinfecting doorknobs and other high touch surfaces, replacing used hand towels and keeping physical distance from sick individuals will help stop the spread of disease.

Virus particles have an easier time building up inside, especially when you host a gathering at your home. Ventilate your home by getting fresh air into your home by opening door and windows and/or using exhaust fans, filtering the air that is that is there and improving air flow.

In some instances, such as the if you were recently sick and are going back to normal activities, additional preventive measures are recommended. These include wearing face masks, physical distancing and taking steps to clean the indoor air. You can also take these additional prevention steps to further protect yourself and others when respiratory viruses are causing a lot of illness in your community or you or people you live with have risk factors that put them at increased risk for severe illness from infectious respiratory diseases.