What is Lower West Side Household Services doing to mitigate the risk of exposure to Covid-19?
Lower West Side Household Services takes the health and safety of our clients, employees and the public at large very seriously. With the spread of COVID-19, we all must remain vigilant in mitigating the outbreak, especially as we render services to the New York City and Greater Hudson Valley communities. In order to be safe and maintain operations, we have implemented a COVID-19 Exposure Prevention, Preparedness, and Response Plan. This plan includes a Self-Assessment Check, ensuring all homecare providers have appropriate PPE, providing education and information to all team members including clients as we are updated by the NYS Department of Health (NYSDOH) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The safety and wellness of our staff, clients and the communities we serve is our top priority. The agency’s Covid-19 continuous action items include, but are not limited to:
- All personnel and clients, as well as their families, are asked to conduct a Self-Assessment to ensure that they do not have or suffer from any of the Covid-19 symptoms.
- Communication of the agency’s Emergency Disaster Preparedness Response
- Consistently educate and keep informed of transmission process and how to decrease risk of exposure
Updates will be provided as we receive them from https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home and the https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/global-handwashing-day.html.
COVID-19 Information Related to Symptoms and Protection
When the coronavirus spreads person-to-person it happens mainly through droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes. Recent studies suggest COVID-19 may also be spread by people who have no symptoms.
Symptoms
A COVID-19 infection can make a person mildly sick or severely ill. Symptoms can be very different for each person. CDC now knows that people who have COVID 19 have these symptoms or a combination:
- Cough
- Shortness of breath, difficulty breathing
- Fever
- Muscle Pain
- Chills
- Headache
- Repeated shaking with chills
- Sore throat
- New loss of taste or smell
- Vomiting or diarrhea
Symptoms of COVID-19 may appear in as few as 2 days or as long as 14 days after exposure to the virus. If a person has these symptoms, go to a hospital emergency room or call the state or local health department about being tested.
Prevention
There is currently no vaccine to prevent COVID-19 infection. The CDC recommends these actions to help prevent the spread of the virus, including:
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a cloth face cover when around others and do not shake hands.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
- Avoid close contact with people who are sick.
- Stay home when you are sick.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw it in the trash.
- Clean frequently touched objects and surfaces with household cleaners as the virus may live on these surfaces.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/global-handwashing-day.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/downloads/10Things.pdf
https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/home