Washing Your Hands Is Your Best Defense Against Coronavirus, Not a Face Mask

If you've been following news on the spread of coronavirus, a strain of infectious respiratory illnesses that is now formally being called COVID-19 by medical professionals, concern for your family's health may not have kicked in until recently.

We've pulled together a panel of leading health experts from different disciplines who have all been closely following the spread of coronavirus worldwide; each have direct experience in treating or studying viral illnesses. Here's what you can do to prepare your family for a potential coronavirus outbreak as well as exposure to influenza or other viral infections, according to experts.

Story continuesMany common disinfectant products, including picks like wipes and sprays, need to stay wet on a dirty surface for a certain amount of time to actually be effective, says Carolyn Forte, Director of the Good Housekeeping Institute Cleaning Lab."If you're using it for a matter of seconds, it's not going to work. You'll want to use another cleaner in this case.

Take note of the areas the CDC has identified as high risk.Travel abroad is largely being discouraged by cautious health professionals, and the CDC has released official recommendations to cancel travel to mainland China and South Korea, and has issued travel alerts for those with chronic illnesses to avoid Italy, Iran, and Japan.

Some employees may be asked to work from home in a preemptive quarantine if they've traveled abroad recently. But if you're truly worried about contracting a virus at work, the best thing you can do is work on your own immune system. Popescu and other experts say that it's not too late to get a flu shot, which may help lessen the hold that any virus has on you later down the road.

Pay attention to your symptoms if you feel sick.If you or someone in your family is feeling under the weather, you'll want to determine their symptoms. If they are flu-like, Gershon says it's best to keep that person isolated in a room: Don't share meals or bedding, and avoid their dirty tissues or mucus."Hard common surfaces in the home — everything from counters to TV remotes — are the target for immediate disinfecting.

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