Coronavirus infection: As COVID cases rise, many predict a fourth wave coming; 5 behavioral practices to adopt

The never ending highs and lows of COVID cases have made us listless. However, it is still not the right time to drop the guards as we never know when a massive wave of the virus will hit us. From the very beginning of the pandemic, global health agencies, governments and administrations have been suggesting us to be careful in our personal and social behaviour in order to stay safe from the viral attack. A virus becomes a menace, when it gets the scope to reproduce and propagate within a host population. The reason the COVID causing coronavirus is still thriving within the population is because the human body is a suitable host for it. The only way to stop the menace of the virus is to stop it from spreading. Only if we can cut the transmission of the virus from one person to another, the load of the virus in our environment is likely to reduce.

Read: Signs you are suffering from long COVID

Read: Delhi govt. orders to mask up; know why we need to take this seriously

Read: What's happening and why COVID-19 cases are still surging in China, even after 'Zero COVID policy'

Laxity in social behaviour is nothing less than giving the virus a ground to breed and multiply.

“Though people of all age brackets are vulnerable to the infection, still, in the current scenario, the geriatric population and those with multitude of co-morbidities like, people on dialysis, or those who underwent renal transplant, medical history of COPD, Asthma or other respiratory ailments, patients undergoing treatment for cancer including chemotherapy etc are at an increased risk of infection,” says says Dr. Sachin Kandhari, Senior Neurosurgeon and Managing Director, IBS Hospital, New Delhi and emphasizes on the need to stay alert.

A wide and tight coverage around the nose, and mouth including the chin area is the most effective way to keep the virus from entering the body and vice versa.

When the coronavirus was first spotted in Wuhan, China in late 2019, the first suggestion from experts was to mask up everyone.

Administrations and government agencies made people aware of the benefits of wearing masks. Research studies have found that simply wearing cloth masks cuts down the risk of contracting the virus by a large percent.

As per a US CDC report, "cloth masks not only effectively block most large droplets (i.e., 20-30 microns and larger), but they can also block the exhalation of fine droplets and particles (also often referred to as aerosols) smaller than 10 microns."

Apart from masks, what contributed a lot to stop the wildfire of the coronavirus was the lockdown.

Two years hence, we should not forget this practice. If it is not necessary, avoid going outside, and avoid attending public gatherings.

Public gatherings are the breeding ground for several pathogenic infections. Unmasked public, not maintaining physical distance of atleast 1 metre, unhealthy sanitisation methods and improper circulation of air if the gathering is in a closed space are few of the reasons why it is always advisable to avoid outdoor gatherings during pandemic.

If you are feeling sick, quarantine yourself voluntarily. When COVID was a novel disease, health agencies focused on quarantining the infected individual along with the ones who they were in contact with.

Quarantine helps to cut the transmission of the virus. The person who is infected with the virus stays isolated from others for a duration of 10-14 days till the incubation period of the virus.

Quarantining within a household would save the older people and kids from contracting the infection.

How many of you still buy bottles of sanitizer as you did in 2020? Not many of you would be doing it!

Keeping hands sanitized is another effective way to not just keep COVID causing virus at bay, it is equally to keep every infection away.

Hands are one of the most mobile human parts. These are one of the major sources of carrying the virus into your body.

Therefore, be it for cooking or before eating it is very much essential to wash hands properly.

A glaring example of the effect of hand sanitisation can be seen in the deworming exercise of the government. After kids were taught to wash their hands before and after eating and after using the toilet, the incidence of worming in kids reduced to a large extent.

So far, vaccination is the only effective way to reduce the risk of severity of COVID. Experts say less hospitalisation during the Omicron wave of COVID was majorly due to vaccination.

Vaccination prepares the memory of the immune system to fight against the virus. The booster shots enhance the memory of the immune system which usually wanes after few months of vaccination.

Never forget to take the jabs at the right time.

One should always avoid the misinformation and fake news related to the vaccines.