How to Prepare Your Home for Being Self Quarantined

Since I have been hearing about mass hysteria surrounding the Coronavirus, which is no joke, I figured I’d put together this post on how to prepare your home for being self quarantined to hopefully help you prepare in a responsible way. Mason’s preschool is out until further notice and so I know that we have a lot of long days ahead of us at home with not much in the way of getting out to do our usual things. I am looking at what we need for our day to day that we were already running low on and what we’d need on hand in case we were to get sick.

So, how to prepare your home for being self quarantined?? NEWS FLASH, it’s not stockpiling all the toilet paper you can get your hands on. This type of behavior is detrimental to people who are disadvantaged and cannot buy more than what they need at any given time. So if by the time they are running low or are out, they will not be able to buy what they need since the shelves are literally empty everywhere.

The fact that basic necessities are selling out within minutes of them being restocked is crazy and doesn’t allow for everyone to get enough of what they need. Just think about that for a sec and feel blessed that you are able to have on hand more than most people. Now I’m not trying to shame anyone who may have had that mentality as news first broke out. I know a lot of people who have been panicking and for good reason (to some extent). But really, what should you be looking to buy in preparation for being self quarantined or even just distancing yourself from others and choosing to stay home more than usual?

At the advice of my parents doctors, one of the first things you should do is check your medicine cabinet and make sure what you have is not expired. If it is expired you should dispose of it properly, like take it to a pharmacy that accepts and disposes of old medication, and go out and buy new ones. This includes Advil and Tylenol not just prescribed medication.

In one of my mom groups an RN shared the below information about what you should be buying to prepare yourself. This is copied word for word from what she wrote. I am not a medical professional and that is why I am sharing the information I have been receiving from medical professionals to make sure this information is readily available to everyone.

“So what I have seen a lot of is recommendations for how to try to avoid getting coronavirus in the first place — good handwashing — but what I have NOT seen a lot of is advice for what happens if you actually get it, which many of us will. So as your friendly neighborhood RN, let me make some suggestions.

You basically just want to prepare as though you know you’re going to get a nasty respiratory bug, like bronchitis or pneumonia. You just have the foresight to know it’s coming.

Things you should actually buy ahead of time (not sure what the obsession with toilet paper is?): Kleenex, Acetaminophen (Tylenol) in 325 mg tablets, Ibuprofen (Advil) in 200 mg tablets, Mucinex, Robitussin or whatever your generic cough medicine of choice is (check the label and make sure you’re not doubling up on acetaminophen – some brands like DayQuil have it included and you don’t want that). You want a cough medicine with both a cough suppressant and expectorant. Vix vaporub for your chest is also a great suggestion.

If you don’t have a humidifier, that would be a good thing to buy and run in your room when you go to bed overnight. (You can also just turn the shower on hot and sit in the bathroom breathing in the steam). If you have a history of asthma and you have a prescription inhaler, make sure the one you have isn’t expired and refill it/get a new one if it is.

This is also a good time to meal prep: make a big batch of your favorite soup to freeze and have on hand. Whatever your favorite clear fluids are to drink (Sprite, juice, ICE waters, Fresca, whatever floats your boat), stock your pantry with those. Maybe get some nice soothing tea too!

For symptom management, use the meds I mentioned. For a fever over 101, alternate Tylenol 650 mg and Advil 400 mg so you’re taking a dose of one then the other every 3 hours.

Drink A TON, hydrate hydrate hydrate. Rest lots. You should not be leaving your house except to go to the doctor, and if you do, wear a mask (regular is fine, you don’t need an N95).

You DO NOT NEED TO GO TO THE ER unless you are having trouble breathing or your fever is very high (over 103.5) and unmanaged with meds. 90% of healthy adult cases thus far have been managed at home with basic rest/hydration/over-the-counter meds. We don’t want to clog the ERs unless you’re actually in distress. The hospital beds will be used for people who actively need oxygen/breathing treatments/IV fluids.

If you have a pre-existing lung condition (COPD, emphysema, lung cancer) or are on immunosuppressants, now is a great time to talk to your PCP or specialist about what they would like you to do if you get sick. They might have plans to get you admitted and bypass the ER entirely.

One major relief to you parents is that kids do VERY well with coronavirus— they usually bounce back in a few days, NO ONE under 18 has died, and almost no kids have required hospitalization (unless they have a lung disease like CF). Just use pediatric dosing of the same meds.”

I also watched a very helpful Instagram Live from a healthcare professional that really put things into perspective. It eased my mind on one hand because we are already doing all the things you need to be doing to help minimize your susceptibility to getting COVID-19 like washing our hands regularly, coughing into our elbow, use hand sanitizer after handling things like currency or after being out in public touching different surfaces, AND the hardest of all try not to touch your face. People, I had no idea how much I touch my face until I was told NOT to.

But then also made me think about what I needed to be sure I was prepared. Having enough supplies to run your home is important. We were running low on some regular household items like hand soap. So, when I went to the store I wanted to restock, but not overbuy. We always buy our paper goods in bulk at Costco so we are more than ok there. I didn’t feel the need to buy any extra because I figured we are going to be ok for a while.

Another thing I have been doing is focus on the cleanliness of my home. I have been disinfecting all our surfaces. We were already due for a deep clean so this just gave me the push I needed to finally get it done. But, I didn’t turn into a crazy person frantically going room to room. Instead, I have been slowly tackling each surface when I have free time, like when Mason is napping.

So what have you been doing to prepare your home for being self quarantined?

As always, thank you so much for stopping by the blog today! Please let me know if you found this post helpful. I sure hope it was!!