Edit: August 7, 2020. Wear a mask over your nose and mouth. Don’t touch it except to put it on and take it off. If you have to go out, try to keep 2 metres away from other people, even if they’re wearing masks. Don’t congregate in groups larger than 10, and be sure to know everyone in the group or have some contact info for them. Get tested if you show any symptoms at all.
Edit: March 12, 2020. “Cancel Everything” – don’t go out unnecessarily to places where there are a lot of people. Avoid travel. Protect the elderly. End edit.
When Coronavirus was first publicized in January, many of the Facebook pages and chat sites for emetophobia carried the same message: “I’m not afraid of it, because none of the symptoms is vomiting.” In other words, if you’re only afraid of vomiting and not of dying then you’re good. If truth be known, emetophobic people are also afraid of dying – they just don’t realize it. Vomiting=dying in some part of the emetophobic brain. Other forms of dying we feel pretty much immune to, even though there is risk involved. Phobics are naturally unwilling to take any amount of risk as it relates to the thing they fear, even though they’re quite willing to get into an automobile every day.
I was hoping that the conversation might be a bit more realistic, which it has now become: we germ phobics have something to teach the rest of the world – good hygiene! Wash your hands well, and don’t touch your face, meaning the “T-zone” of eyes, nose, mouth. Those are the mucus membranes just waiting for the virus to find its entry point.
With norovirus, touching one’s nose is less likely to infect you, and touching the eyes even less, as norovirus must be “swallowed,” meaning vomit or fecal matter has to make its way to your stomach and intestines. Ew. Coronavirus, on the other hand, just needs to make its way, via your mucus membranes, to your lungs. Gah!
Wearing a mask may help you to remember not to touch your mouth or nose, but as masks are in high demand just now it’s better to leave those for folks who are actually sick. That way, their sneezes and coughs can’t infect anyone else. Gloves are pretty useless because, just like hands, they touch everything and are quickly covered in germs.
Click here to link to a great Washington Post article that talks about the psychology of why refraining to touch our faces is so difficult.