The following guidance is for patients with mild symptoms and no pre-existing medical conditions on receiving care at home. Always contact your health provider for specific guidance.
For cases where home care is recommended, the WHO has issued a comprehensive list of precautions you should take. As a summary, it suggests the following:
- Assessment of the home by a healthcare professional
- Limit the number of visitors and care-givers to a minimum
- Personal protective equipment (PPE) including medical masks for both the patients and the caregivers
- Regular hand hygiene practices including washing and wearing disposable gloves
- Regular surface cleaning in areas where the patient is staying
- Effective disposal or disinfection of contaminated items
- Monitoring of the patient by telephone or in-person visits
What are the routes of transmission for coronavirus?
Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is understood to be spread primarily through respiratory transmission and secondarily through contact with infected surfaces. Recent studies have also found live virus in stool which suggests fecal-oral transmission routes.
Managing human waste at home
The WHO has reported that up to 10% of patients with COVID-19 presented with diarrhoea. Given that live virus has been found in fecal samples, safe management of human waste is essential. For more information on infection control in human waste management techniques, click here.
The WHO recommends avoiding direct contact with body fluids, including stools. Disposable gloves and a mask should be worn when handling human waste. Hand hygiene should be performed before and after removing gloves and masks. These should be immediately disposed of after use.
Single use bed pans and pads can be used for less mobile patients in the home. These are widely available online. Compared to re-usable bedpans which require rinsing and washing, a fresh item is used each time and then safely disposed.
Wanting to reduce risks even further? Instead of disposing into bins, and needing to re-open them regularly, a macerator can be installed. Macerators dispose of pulp items safely down the sewage system as and when needed. This reduces odours and infection risks. Compact and rental options are available for domestic use.
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Further reading
“Home care for patients with suspected novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection presenting with mild symptoms, and management of their contacts” WHO, February 4 2020. https://www.who.int/publications-detail/home-care-for-patients-with-suspected-novel-coronavirus-(ncov)-infection-presenting-with-mild-symptoms-and-management-of-contacts. Accessed March 9, 2020.
