Bahrain warns against abandoning public health measures

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

From as low as 15 COVID-19 cases on 9 November last year, Bahrain last night registered 1,072 new cases.

As the number is rising day by day since last month, health experts in the Kingdom and around the world have warned that it’s not going to be a light switch back to normalcy even with vaccines already available to the public.

In fact, they recommend people to still strictly follow important precautionary measures, even after getting the vaccine.

With vaccines now available to citizens and residents at health centres across the Kingdom, health experts recommend to people not abandon all public health measures just because they have been vaccinated.

Those fundamentals include: wearing face masks, maintaining physical distance, avoiding large crowds, doing more outdoor activities and washing hands frequently.

Properly wearing a mask can help keep you safe while navigating the pandemic.

While you should continue to wash your hands, cover your coughs and sneezes, avoid touching your face and follow social distancing rules, wearing a mask is an additional step you should also take to stay safe.

As we’ve learned throughout this pandemic, the most common way COVID-19 spreads is through person-to-person contact.

When an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks, they produce respiratory droplets that can travel about six feet and can land in the mouths or noses of those nearby.

COVID-19 can also be spread by people who don’t know they have the virus since they aren’t experiencing any symptoms.

Because of this, health professionals recommend wearing masks or cloth face coverings to help slow the spread of the virus. In these circumstances, a mask can add an extra layer of protection.

And remember, social distancing and hand washing are still very important safety precautions too that everyone should follow in addition to facial protection.

Studies show that even a distance of three feet significantly decreases the spread of the coronavirus from one person to another.

At six feet, the risk decreases even further, at nine feet even further than that, and so on, particularly in an indoor setting.

Clearly, there is still so much to learn about COVID-19.

Scientific though the evidence is clear: Wearing a mask and social distancing, and frequent hand washing, among other prescribed protective measures, help prevent people from spreading COVID-19, and from being infected themselves.