In the previous article we armed ourselves with the H1N1 facts.  Now let’s engage in a morbid but healthy psychological exercise.  Visualize yourself grieving at the funeral of a loved one; it could be one of your children or your spouse.  Ever since the person died from H1N1 you have been second guessing yourself.  What could you have done to have prevented it?  It relentlessly plays in your head over and over again.  Now hit your mind’s reverse button and let’s go back to the point a week before the person got infected.  You are now ready and motivated to be a little paranoid and consider an extreme plan of action to prevent that fateful infection.  Here are ways to prevent infection.

The First Thing Is to Avoid Infected People

Since H1N1 is spread person to person via droplets through speaking, coughing and sneezing; we will strive to prevent infection by practicing the following:

1. Get over what people think about your strange new hygiene habits.  A pandemic is not the time to be concerned about the approval of others.
2. Avoid anyone with the symptoms of fever, cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue.  If this means that we become antisocial for a season then so be it.  We can always make new friends with the remaining pandemic survivors.
3. Avoid close contact with those who may be infected by maintaining a minimum clearance of 3-6 feet.  This is the distance droplets can travel in the air through coughing and sneezing.  H1N1 is not considered an airborne virus in the traditional sense like anthrax spores which can remain suspended in the air for longer periods.  
4. We must minimize our time in crowded settings.  This will be tough if you are a baseball fan like me.
5. Avoid kissing, shaking hands and hugging.  Show affection verbally.  This could be a hard habit to break for you touchy-feely types.
6. Never spend very long waiting in a hospital emergency room.  It could be a cesspool of those who are H1N1 hosts.  After registering at the front desk, advise the person to call you on your mobile phone when it is your turn to see the nurse.  Then go wait outside or in your car.  Maybe they can use the kind of pagers that restaurants use but only if they are disinfected after each use
7. Carry a small bottle of alcohol-based hand cleaner, antiseptic wipes and latex gloves to use in public places.  Use the disinfectants after opening doors and touching escalator rails.
8. Avoid if possible touching doorknobs and handrails and other surfaces that infected people contact after sneezing and coughing into their hands.
9. Stock up on food and other supplies which is always good advice even without a pandemic.  My wife has prepared meals in advance and stored them in the freezer.
10. Use a thermal image scanner to screen home visitors to detect people with a fever.  I’m just kidding although this would be a great idea if it wasn’t so expensive.  I would absolutely do this if I was the other billionaire Larry Ellison.  I would be the Fever Nazi (Seinfeld humor like the Soup Nazi).  For those who are unemployed consider getting trained as a Level-1 Certified Thermographer to work at airports and other mass transit points.

Next Disinfect and Clean Everything

Since the influenza virus can survive on environmental surfaces and can infect a person for 2 to 8 hours after being deposited; we will strive to prevent infection by practicing the following:

1. Obtain an EPA approved antimicrobial disinfectant for Influenza A on hard surfaces.  The product should advertise 99.99% effectiveness.  Note that cleaning a surface removes viruses but disinfecting kills them.
2. Clean and disinfect tabletops, counters, faucets, sinks, bathtubs, toilets, doorknobs, appliance handles, refrigerator shelves, light switches, toothbrush holders, hand soap dispensers, trash cans, scissors, toys, etc.
3. Use the sanitize cycle on your dishwasher to clean dishes, pots and pans, eating utensils and kitchen sponges.  Replace sponges more frequently.
4. If you don’t have a sanitize cycle on your dishwasher, soak sponges in a mild chlorine bleach solution daily.  Follow the directions on the container.
5. A good way to disinfect sinks and bathtubs is to fill them with cold water and pour in small amount chlorine bleach.  It doesn’t take much.  Follow the directions on the label.  Be careful not to fill to overflowing unless you want bleach spots on your clothes and towels.
6. Wash clothes, sheets, pillow cases, towels more frequently.  Avoid hugging the laundry before washing it to prevent contaminating yourself.  Consider washing laundry every day.

Practice Good Personnel Hygiene

Since routes of H1N1 infection are the mouth, nose and eyes; we will strive to prevent infection by practicing the following:

1. I’m not convinced about the need to wear a face mask or respirator in public.  These should certainly be worn by the person who is sick when a person is caring for them.  I don’t think you need to wear them in public as long as you don’t let someone cough or sneeze directly into your face.  Maintain a 3-6 foot safety zone.
2. Purchase a good supply of latex or nitrile gloves, masks or respirators early while they are still available.  I buy the 100 count box of gloves at Costco which is my favorite store.
3. Don’t drink out of the same glass, can or bottle as others.  Become selfish like an only child and don’t share.
4. Don’t chug out of the milk jug or other drink containers in the refrigerator.  Also don’t let others do it.  I was a big offender of this in my teenage years.
5. Don’t drink directly out of a faucet with your mouth.  Preferably use a disposable paper cup.
6. Wash your hands for 20 seconds under running water.  This is hard for me to do since I am very impatient.  My average is about 5 seconds and it always seems like I’m wasting water if I go longer.  Being impatient was a good trait as a firefighter but not in this case for preventing flu.
7. Wash your hands after using a kitchen or bathroom sponge.
8. Use the bathroom sink for washing hands and brushing your teeth and not the kitchen sink.  Let’s try to separate personnel hygiene from food preparation.
9. Use paper towels instead of linen ones for drying hands.  This will cost us more but it will be well worth it during a looming pandemic.  Visualize the funeral again and you will get over the cost factor.
10. Use approved alcohol based hand cleaners as an alternative to soap and water.  Rub your hands together until the alcohol gel evaporates.  One particular skin sanitizer was recently recalled because it contained harmful bacteria.  How is that even possible with a product that is advertised as microbial?
11. Use sterile technique for removing gloves, face masks and respirators.  This is where you remove the mask first and then each glove by turning inside out without touching any outer part with a bare hand or finger.  It just takes a little practice.
12. Don’t reuse gloves, face masks and respirators.  You penny pinchers will have a hard time with this one.
13. After removing gloves, face masks and respirators, clean your hands.  You may initially have trouble with the perfect sterile technique above and will need to disinfect your hands.
14. Don’t prepare food in the kitchen sink unless it is in a colander or other container.  Talk about an easy avenue for the virus.
15. Disinfect trash cans once a week.  Take out the trash while wearing gloves.  Use plastic bags for trash can liners.  I always put 3-4 extra bags in the bottom of the can before I line it with a new one which is a trick I learned from a janitor.  It saves time the next change out.
16. Don’t wipe children’s faces with a sponge or dishrag.  I struggled to get my wife to abandon this disgusting habit when our kids were very young.  Can you imagine what germs are in an old dirty sponge?  Yuk!
17. Dispose of used antiseptic wipes, gloves, face masks and respirators in the garbage.
18. Devise a system so that someone else’s toothbrush is not mistakenly used.  I once accidentally grabbed my wife’s toothbrush while grouping around in the dark because I didn’t want to turn on the light and wake her up.  Let’s see … was my toothbrush at 90 degrees or 270 in the holder?  I didn’t mind but she sure did and promptly threw hers out and opened a new one.
19. Keep family toothbrushes separated and replace them more frequently.  Wash the toothbrush holder occasionally in the dishwasher.  Have you ever looked at the culture growing in the bottom of one of these?  It would make a good science fair project for your kid.
20. Don’t trust eating out since sanitation during food preparation may be lax.  I recall a project in which a high school student did a study on the ice dispensed in soda machines.  Many had germs in them from not being cleaned regularly.  This is just one example of things not to trust during a pandemic.
21. Get every family member their own tube of toothpaste and toothbrush holder.  I just noticed that I touch my toothbrush to the tube when squeezing out toothpaste.
22. Study your family’s own unique hygiene habits to add this to this list.  I have a habit of inhaling warm water from the shower into my nose to clear out my sinuses and then exhaling forcefully covering the walls with buggers.  It only seems disgusting because you didn’t think of it first.  I’m interested in expanding my list but let’s not turn this into a gross habit contest.

Care for the Sick and Others

Since few people have immunity to H1N1 because it is a new strain and humans by nature are gregarious; we will strive to prevent and treat infection by practicing the following:

1. Get the H1N1 immunization shot as early as possible.  Full immunity is not reached until two weeks after the vaccination.  This could be a big problem since the vaccine won’t be ready until mid-October and a pandemic could be in full swing by September.  All the more critical to practice these preventive steps.
2. Try to isolate family members who become infected.  This is a very difficult one to implement but essential to prevent the virus from spreading to others.
3. Segregate items like toothbrushes that are used by those who are infected.  If possible have them use their own bathroom.
4. Wear protective gloves when caring for the sick.  If they can tolerate it have them wear a mask while the caregiver is near them.
5. For the sick use disposable cups, bowls, plates and eating utensils.  This is not a bad idea for the healthy also.
6. Maintain a strong immune system by eating right, exercising and getting plenty of rest.
7. Increase airflow in living spaces.
8. If you become sick stay at home for at least 24-hours after your fever is gone.  This one might prove difficult for workaholics.  Make sure those who are sick get sent home from work.
9. Infants should not be cared for by sick family members.  Therefore mothers should be especially protected from infection since their family nurturing role is so essential.  This is harder to do as a single parent.
10. Use a non-contact infrared thermometer to check for fever.  This avoids having to disinfect the classic model.  This is another item to purchase in advance.

If we try to make this into a game with our kids and family then we have a better chance of succeeding.  Explain the importance of what you are trying to accomplish to get everyone on board.  I remember how often my kids reminded me to put on my seat belt while driving.  I and my wife trained them well.  Just like wearing a seat belt this routine can save a life during a pandemic.