Protect your home from Bird Flu

The issue of protecting your home against a pandemic flu outbreak is one of careful planning and stockpiling as well as infection control. The basics of infection control apply here as they would in a hospital or laboratory.

Key stages for protecting your home

Stay safe when out and about

Protect your self as mentioned in the how to avoid bird flu page.

Further steps you could take are:

Wear overshoes to prevent bringing the virus home on your shoes.
Wear disposable gloves when out or regularly use a hand sanitiser to prevent getting the virus on your hands.
Wear overclothes or disposable coveralls when out, to prevent getting the virus on the clothes you will wear into the house.
Wear a respirator - this will prevent you from touching your mouth and nose and prevent you from inhaling airborne particles contaminated with the virus.
Similarly wear goggles to prevent getting the virus in your eyes.
Wear a head covering to prevent the virus from getting on your hair, taking care to cover your ears as well.
Carry disinfectant wipes to wipe down surfaces that you may need to touch when out. For instance ATMs, keyboards, PIN number machines. These can be used to wipe down your credit cards after use.
Try to avoid using cash where possible. There may be a shortage of money in circulation due to lack of people to stock ATMs etc, but equally money could become contaminated with the virus.
Carry your wallet in a bag or coat pocket that is used for external use only.
Do not drink from public drinking fountains.
Wipe/open door handles with disinfectant wipes or gloved hands only.

These steps may help in the prevention of bird flu in the event of a pandemic, how you apply them will depend on the severity of the outbreak.

Decontaminate on entering home

Having prevented yourself from contracting the virus when out, you need to consider how to stop yourself from bringing the virus into your home. These steps may help with preventing access of the virus to you home/living areas.

Place a disinfectant mat either inside or outside of external doors (dependant on neighbourhood) for disinfecting feet before entry into the home. In addition, you may consider wearing overshoes to protect your shoes when outside, these are easily removed and are a cheaper alternative.

Set up a decontamination area in your hallway just inside the front door. This can be constructed using clear plastic dustsheets available from hardware and DIY stores. Tape this to the ceiling, walls and floor creating a sealed room within your hallway. Leave a route in through the door where the sheets can be parted for access and an exit point where overlapped dustsheets can be parted to exit. Suggested size is the width of your hall and as large a comfortable/practical to remove and don outer clothes. Place a bin lined with a plastic bag inside this area - this will be for disposal of contaminated clothing etc.

In this area, you will remove outer clothes, disposable hair covers/coveralls/overshoes/gloves/respirator. Place disposable items into the bin. Wipe face with a disinfectant wipe and spray any overclothes that have been exposed to the environment with a disinfectant spray and hang up within the decontamination area to dry. You are now free to enter the home.

If you have younger children and pets it might be sensible to erect a child gate at the entrance to the decontamination area.

Post and parcels

When you receive post during a pandemic you will need to be careful. Saliva used to stick down envelopes and stamps may be contaminated. Use of a letter opener with gloves, and opening the letter from the other seams other than the licked seam are sensible precautions.

Envelopes could also potentially be contaminated. Externally they might be wiped with a disinfectant wipes or sprayed with a disinfectant spray. Wait long enough for these to be effective before touching. Dispose of envelope immediately and do not bring it beyond your decontamination area.

Letters themselves may also be contaminated, so handle with gloves and leave in a safe place inside your decontamination area. Alternatively you might ask people and organisations you deal with, to email you rather than post letters.

If you receive a parcel, you should follow all of the same precautions as with letters, but also ensure that any contents are properly disinfected before bringing them beyond your decontamination area.

When sending letters and parcels, you should take similar precautions for the recipient, i.e. do not lick stamps or envelopes use self-adhesive types or a wet sponge. You might also use email instead of letters.

Pets and decontamination.

It is suggested that if you attempt to keep your home sterile, you should keep pets indoors. Cats and dogs may contract the virus and in general decontamination could be a problem.

Reduce need to leave home - stockpile

Store a two week supply of water and food. During a pandemic, if you cannot get to a shop, or if the shops are out of supplies, it will be important for you to have extra supplies on hand. This can be useful in other types of emergencies, such as power outages and disasters.

Items to have on hand for an extended stay at home:

Examples of food and non-perishables

Ready-to-eat canned meats, fish, fruits,
Vegetables, beans, and soups
Protein or fruit bars
Dry cereal or granola
Peanut butter or nuts
Dried fruit
Crackers
Canned juices
Bottled water
Canned or jarred baby food and formula
Pet food
Other non-perishable items

Examples of medical, health, and emergency supplies

Prescribed medical supplies such as glucose and blood-pressure monitoring equipment
Soap and water, or hand wash
Medicines for fever, such as acetaminophen or ibuprofen
Thermometer
Anti-diarrhoeal medication
Vitamins
Fluids with electrolytes
Cleansing agent/soap
Flashlight
Batteries
Portable radio
Manual can opener
Garbage bags
Tissues, toilet paper, disposable nappies

 

Activities to occupy time

If you may find spending more time at home than usual in a semi enforced isolation very stressful, therefore it is essential to stock up on activities that can help to occupy your time. Especially if there are power cuts! Suggested activities include:

Books
Board games
hobbies such as:

needlework,
knitting,
crosswords,
musical instruments
home brewing kits

Home security

If there are shortages during a pandemic then home security may become an issue. If you have stocked up then you will want to ensure that someone else does not profit from the fruits of your labour. You may also want to consider how you would protect yourself from those intruders, if necessary. You may wish to consider some or all of the following:

Installing intruder alarms in your home.
Setting up or joining neighbourhood watch programmes in your area
Adding additional locks to doors.
Replacing or boarding up vulnerable windows.
Fixing fences and gates.
Installing an intercom system to save opening the doors.
Finding good hiding places for your goods
Taking a self defence or martial arts course (we do not condone violence, but self defence may be required)
Getting a dog - this does bring it's own problems like feeding and walking the dog outside.

 

All information supplied here is done so freely and Adveticus Limited takes no responsibility for the outcome if any or all of this advice is taken. All advice used from these pages is at your own risk.