(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .



How to protect yourself and institute home isolation procedures that work. [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2025-01-14

I am 64 years old and I get asthmatic bronchitis every time I get sick. The last time I got sick I wound up in the hospital for five days on a BiPAP machine. It’s not fun getting sick and I do everything I can to prevent it. So when my husband gets sick, or there is something contagious going around, we go into isolation mode.

My husband works for the VA hospital and when there is an outbreak of a contagious pathogen patients that arrive for routine visits like an eye exam, or for a dermatology appointment are asked at check-in if they have a fever or a cough. Those that do will be rescheduled as they are usually contagious. However, patients will sometimes lie and say that they do not have a fever or cough when asked because getting an appointment can take up to six weeks for routine exams like an eye exam. When a patient lies so that they can complete their exam their fever or cough are often discovered during the exam. These people put the healthcare workers at risk for catching whatever it is that they have.

During periods of an outbreak, of any contagious pathogen, healthcare workers wear a mask and take precautions to prevent the spread of the disease. However, wearing a mask does not really protect them as much as it does the patient. Unfortunately the risk for healthcare workers is high, and they often are exposed to patients that are contagious even when they try to screen out the contagious patients. Patients that are contagious are seen in an isolated area of the medical center or hospital where the air is filtered better and there are other measures to prevent the spread of contagious diseases. But some patients are selfish and put others at risk without any thought for their safety.

Since this is now happening more often, when there is something contagious going around we immediately begin home isolation procedures. My husband will come home from work, go to the garage and take off all his clothes and put them into the washing machine. He then puts on his robe and enters the house thru the back door. He then takes a shower and puts on clean clothes. His keys, wallet, badges and other items that may be contaminated are placed on the sink in the bathroom and when he exits the bathroom he turns on a 25 watt UVC light bulb that sterilizes both the bathroom and everything in it. We let the bulb light up the room for 30 minutes then shut it off and air out the room to clear it of the ozone. If he is not sick or showing any symptoms we then carry on with our normal day. But if he is sick or showing symptoms he goes to one bedroom where he stays in isolation.

We purchased an H14 level HEPA air filter with a UVC light bulb inside it and that sits in the hallway between the back of the house where the isolation bedroom is and the rest of the house. The filter cleans the air constantly assuring that any air between the isolation room and the rest of the house is safe. We take every precaution to prevent me from getting whatever it is that he has caught. I wash my hands frequently. I deliver all his food to a tray outside his door then knock on the door to know that there is something on the tray for him. He waits to give me time to evacuate the danger zone, which is the zone between the HEPA filter and the isolation room. Once I am clear he opens the door and collects his food and drinks or whatever is waiting for him.

For the past three and a half weeks my husband has been sick. It started with regular flu symptoms but then went into his chest and he wound up with pneumonia and sepsis. We had to take him to the hospital and he was there for 6 days. When we brought him home he was still sick and recovering with antibiotics and other medications. He is still coughing a lot but his fever has gone. We are still observing all of our isolation procedures and so far I am still healthy. I attribute this to being vigilant with our procedures.

Here is what we do to maintain effective isolation. First, I keep the H14 HEPA filter running 24/7. In case you were unaware H14 refers to the quality of the filter a HEPA grade of H13 can remove 99.95% of all particles in the air measuring 0.2 microns in diameter, while a HEPA grade H14 removes 99.995%. These are both considered Medical Grade Filters, but he H14 filter is slightly better, and more expensive. We turn on the UVC light after each use of the bathroom since our house has only one bathroom. I wash my hands frequently. We keep his door closed and only open in when I am clear of the danger zone. We visit by cracking the sliding glass door to the room he is in and I sit outside and we chat, or we text each other, and we text often. We keep him happy in isolation by providing him with DVD’s and all kinds of goodies that keep his spirits up, and that way he is more likely to stay in the isolation room without getting anxious or catching cabin fever.

I am one of those people that if you have something and I get to within 10 feet of you, I catch whatever it is that you have. Unfortunately, with my predilection for getting asthmatic bronchitis when I get sick, whatever is going around is usually worse for me. So, after many times of trying different procedures for isolation and having them fail and me getting sick, I am very happy with our current procedures. For anyone that has someone in their home that has a long term health issue, a weakened immune system, or is subject to more severe upper respiratory symptoms, I would sincerely recommend that you invest in both a HEPA filter and a UVC light bulb. They work, and they can protect you if you use them correctly.

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2025/1/14/2296935/-How-to-protect-yourself-and-institute-home-isolation-procedures-that-work

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/

You are viewing proxied material from magical.fish. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.