Leaving your home in a COVID-19 world

COVID-19 is an evolving situation, so information changes quickly. The information provided is the best available at the time of publication.

Everyone should remain at home as much as possible to prevent the spread of coronavirus. However, some examples of valid reasons to leave your home include: grocery shopping; pharmacy visits to pick up medications, necessary medical appointments (although Beebe is providing telemedicine visits); and work, if you are an essential employee.

Prior to heading out, make a list so you know exactly what you need when you get to the store or pharmacy. You should limit your trips, so try to purchase enough groceries or medications to last at least a week, more if possible.

Before leaving your house, make sure you have your list, wallet, cloth face covering, and hand sanitizer or alcohol-based hand wipes.

It is best to go to the store by yourself. You should not be traveling with other family members if that can be avoided. Keeping family members at home keeps them safe and makes it easier for you to monitor what is touched during the trip so you can better sanitize and protect yourself.

Choose a store where you can likely get everything on your list. Limiting the number of stops you make will reduce your risk of coming in contact with the COVID-19 virus.

While out, remind yourself to remain 6 feet away from others and avoid touching your face while in the store. Before you exit your car, use hand sanitizer on both hands and then affix your cloth face covering so you are clean and protected.

When you get a cart, use a sanitizing hand wipe, your own or store-provided, on the main touch areas of the cart. Use a sanitizing hand wipe or your hand sanitizer again on your own hands if you had to touch the cart before wiping it down.

As you enter the store, have a plan in mind. Have your list available and move through the store as quickly as possible, avoiding aisles where you do not need anything.

Many grocery stores have implemented new procedures so that aisles are one way to reduce the number of people in them. Be sure to follow all instructions and look for markings on the floor.

Once you have all your needed items, head to a register. Most stores require employees to sanitize the register area after each customer, but if you are concerned it might not be done, ask the employee to sanitize the register and belt before you put your items on.

When paying, use a credit card if possible rather than handle cash or change, which would have been touched by many other people. Bag your items and place them in your cart.

As you exit the store, use hand sanitizing wipes or hand sanitizer again, since you likely touched a credit card keypad and perhaps other surfaces of the checkout area.

It is not currently recommended to wear gloves when out in public. Gloves do not provide more protection than proper hand washing and sanitizing, and may cause more harm than benefit, because you may contaminate yourself later when removing the gloves.

Take items to your car and store them on the floor or in the trunk if possible. Because the bags might have been touched by others, it is better to not put them on seats where you or family members might sit.

Once everything is loaded, the cart is returned, and the doors are shut, it is a good idea to use hand sanitizer before you get back in the car. Sanitize your hands well and then use the sanitizer on your door handles or anywhere you might have touched while loading the car.

Then enter your car and remove your mask, being careful to fold the exterior-facing side of the mask in and leave the mouth-side of the mask on the outside. This way, anything that may be on the outside of your mask will be contained and you will not touch it when you pick up the mask the next time.

Once you return home, unload your purchases and place the bags on the floor instead of on your counters. They could have been touched by others, so treat them as if they might be contaminated.

Unload your purchases and start putting them away. If you bought fruits and vegetables, wash them right away. You can also wash your hands while you are washing the produce in the sink with soap and water. Remember to wash for 20 seconds at least.

Soap is the best bet at this time, as it dissolves the outside layer of the coronavirus, thus killing it.

At this time, we recommend throwing away the plastic bags instead of recycling them.

Once everything is put away, wash your hands again with soap and water. Be sure to get all sides of your hands and fingers, paying special attention to getting under your fingernails. Now is a great time to go with a shorter manicure.

Then using hand sanitizer or wipes, go back through your process to get inside, and wipe down things you might have touched, including doorknobs. You may also want to wipe down your car steering wheel and door handles. It is also good to regularly wash your car keys and cellphone using disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer or a little soap and water.

Store your cloth face covering in a paper bag or wash it immediately. Face masks can be washed in the washing machine or even in the dishwasher.

If you have a necessary medical appointment, call ahead first to see if the visit can be accomplished using telemedicine. Telemedicine allows your provider to talk to you over a secure connection with video and voice, or just with voice. If telemedicine is not possible for your specific medical appointment, follow the instructions above to protect yourself.

If you are an essential employee, such as a healthcare worker, who must leave the house regularly for work, you will want to follow similar procedures each time. In many cases, our healthcare team members are removing all clothing upon arriving home and washing it immediately. We recommend using the warmest temperature setting allowed for the fabric and using soap which will kill any virus on your clothing.

If you are working outside the home, you will also want to regularly clean the things you touch in your car and on your way into the house, including steering wheels, radio knobs, door handles or doorknobs. Cleaning your phones regularly is also good, and removing soft cases that might be damaged by sanitizer or disinfecting wipes can help.

We are all in this together, and by taking precautions, we can keep ourselves and our families safe.