December 7, 2020

The pandemic brings a number of stressors to the forefront. Working at home, caring for children, limited outside movements, travel restrictions, and business fragility has made a lot of people tense. Many had a hard time adjusting to the situation. Some are still struggling with their daily activities. They might even be failing to take care of themselves given all of the disruption, inconvenience, and difficulties. If you feel like you are too stressed, then take care of yourself in the following ways: Have Healthy Ready Meals Delivered, with everything that you need to do in a day, you may no longer have enough time to cook decent meals for yourself. This can tempt you to have fast food day in and day out. You won’t be able to get the nutrients you need to feel and look good. Consider batch cooking if you have time during the weekends. Cook once and just reheat during the weekdays. You can even have healthy ready meals delivered to your doorstep. It’s one less stress to lighten your load. Get Some Form of Exercise Every Day Exercise is helps in managing your weight and keeping all of vital signs in good condition. It also improves muscle and bone strength. While you might feel tired after a workout, over time you will develop better energy and endurance which are useful even in daily life. You don’t have to push yourself to the limit every day. You can simply start by walking for half an hour each day around the neighborhood if permitted. Then jog when you can, increasing speed as your body adapts. Do yoga and lift small weights in your home as well. Reduce Your Social Media Engagement Social media can be a fantastic source of breaking news but it can also be a trigger for anxiety. All of the bad news can affect our mental health in a negative way as we worry about the future. On the other hand, even the good news from friends can make us feel that we are falling behind in life. Consider reducing your social media engagement to stop these emotions from surfacing. Just focus on your work and your family because that’s what you can control. Give Yourself Permission to Rest Don’t worry if you have bouts of low productivity. You are human and you get tired as well. Give yourself the permission to rest and recover. Eventually, you will get back to your old form.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Explained: Roles for Employers and Workers As the world and the U.S in particular continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic, various containment measures and protocols have been developed to help ease the burden of the rising cases of infections and deaths. There are heated discussions around the complexity of the concept of contact tracing and its effectiveness in helping to monitor and control the spread of the disease. In this post, we explore the idea of workplace contact tracing in terms of its definition, the role of staff and the benefits of reinforcing this strategy to help combat this deadly virus that continues to claim thousands of lives throughout the world. Understanding Contact Tracing Traditionally, contact tracing has largely been within the confines of state and federal agencies as well as the health department. It refers to a process involving identifying, educating and monitoring citizens who may have had a close contact with those infected with a certain disease that spreads from one person to another. During this process, health professionals interview the affected people with a view of finding out if they can recall having critical contact with anybody else while they were still ailing. This is done to help identify, alert and get hold of the contacts with an aim of treating them and avoiding continued spread of the disease. Ideally, contact tracing is similar to a family tree which helps to understand members of a lineage or to get someone’s ancestry. Benefits of Contact Tracing in Stopping the Spread of COVID-19 • Contact tracing comes with numerous benefits not only to the individuals but also helps states or countries to manage the spread of a contagious disease. Here are some of the ways contact tracing can be beneficial: • Creating awareness among the infected persons on the necessary steps to take in order to avoid spreading the disease. • Assisting those exposed to the infected persons separate or isolate themselves from the rest of the population to help slow or stop the spread of the virus • It helps to link the infected persons and the contacts with the community, state or country’s resources while in isolation or quarantine. While contact tracing has been touted as one of the most effective ways of combating the spread of coronavirus, this method cannot be relied upon entirely to deal with this pandemic once and for all. In fact, contact tracing can be detrimental if not handled carefully and professionally. Here are some of the challenges that may be associated with this approach to containing COVID-19: • It does not automatically stop the spread of the disease • It can only be effective if done quickly and continuously • It has the potential to cause trauma among those in self-isolation or quarantine if not handled with care Social Distance Reporting Despite the above challenges, contact tracing has been lauded by experts across the world as an invaluable tool that can help stop the spread of coronavirus. However, awareness needs to be created among the working population to help them understand that workplace contact tracing or its application is not aimed at passing a judgment of causing them suffering, pain and anguish, but instead to help both the infected and those exposed to the disease.