Health tips for Labor Day holiday in 2022

This is a reminder from the China CDC that people should continue to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19 during this year's Labor Day holiday, and also take adequate prevention measures against such diseases as norovirus enteritis, food poisoning, tick-borne diseases and animal-borne infectious diseases.

 

 

1.Get vaccinated

It is suggested that those who meet the conditions but have not been vaccinated (especially the elderly) should be vaccinated as soon as possible, as should those who have not finished all the doses. Those who completed the basic schedule more than six months ago should be vaccinated with booster shots.

 

2.Avoid gatherings

Avoid going to medium- and high-risk areas, or traveling across borders. Reduce unnecessary travels and gatherings, especially for the elderly, patients with basic diseases, and pregnant women.

 

3.Maintain good protection during your trip

Follow the requirements of COVID-19 prevention and control at the travel destinations. Prepare disinfectant and hand sanitizer. When going out, you should wear masks, follow social distancing rules, wash hands frequently and avoid crowded places.

 

Keep good ventilation in residential areas. After returning from your trip, you should monitor your health conditions. In case of suspicious symptoms, seek medical treatment in time with good protection and report your trips to a doctor.

 

 

Norovirus enteritis outbreaks mostly occur in places where people gather, such as schools, kindergartens, hospitals, nursing homes and large cruise ships.

 

Norovirus spreads quickly in different ways. You can get norovirus by accidentally getting tiny particles of feces (poop) or vomit from an infected person in your mouth, or get it from contaminated water and food.

 

The most common symptoms of norovirus are diarrhea and vomiting. Other symptoms include nausea, stomachache, fever, headache and body aches. Most people infected with norovirus get better within two to three days.

 

Prevention: 

1. Maintain hand hygiene. Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, especially after using the toilet, before eating, preparing or handling food, and after taking care of patients.

 

2. Pay attention to food and water safety. Try to eat cooked food, wash raw fruits and vegetables, and make sure oysters and other seafood are well cooked before eating. When dining out, you should choose restaurants with good sanitary conditions.

 

3. When you are sick, you need to quarantine yourself. People infected with norovirus should quarantine at home for three days for their illness to recover. Try not to have close contact with other family members, and especially not to prepare and process food or take care of the elderly and infants.

 

4.Clean and disinfect surfaces. Surfaces contaminated by vomit or feces of patients should be cleaned and disinfected with chlorine or other disinfectants immediately, and contaminated clothes or bed sheets should be removed and cleaned immediately as well. Put on rubber or disposable gloves during cleaning, and wash hands after cleaning.

 

There is usually a high incidence of food poisoning from May to October. Food poisoning usually manifests acutely a short time after eating, with symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, stomachache and diarrhea.

 

Prevention:

Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water, especially after using the toilet, before eating, preparing or handling food, touching pets or handling garbage.

 

Wash tableware with flowing water and dry them. Disinfect the kitchen environment.

 

Raw and cooked food should be separated, and kitchenware for processing food and containers should be separated as well. Choose fresh vegetables and fruits, and grains, beans and peanuts without mildew.

 

Store food at a proper temperature. Cooked food should not be stored at room temperature for more than two hours. Leftover food that cannot be finished in one meal should be refrigerated or frozen.

 

When dining out, you should choose a regular restaurant with good sanitary conditions. Maintain a good way of eating, try to separate meals, and use serving chopsticks and spoons to reduce the risk of infection. Do not eat unknown fungi or wild plants.

 

 

Ticks live in grass, bushes or where trees are lush, as well as on the surface of animals. You may come into contact with ticks after walking dogs, camping, gardening, picking tea, farming or hunting. Sometimes people are infected with ticks in courtyards or communities.

 

Ticks generally parasitize on body parts with thin skin that are not easily scratched, such as a person’s scalp, waists, armpits, groins and the parts below the ankles.

 

Tick bites can cause symptoms such as allergic reaction, ulcers or inflammation; these are mostly mild. Sometimes they can also cause serious diseases, such as fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome (a viral disease).

 

Prevention:

Wear long-sleeved clothes to cover bare skin and tighten trouser legs or tuck them into socks or shoes to prevent ticks from penetrating through the gap.

 

If you are bitten by ticks, it is important to remove them as soon as possible. Clamp the tick as close to the skin surface as possible with clean tweezers and pull it upward carefully. 

 

Do not twist or jerk the tick, which will cause the oral part of the tick to fall off but the body to remain in the skin. You can also spray alcohol on the tick body first, and then remove it with pointed tweezers.

 

After removing ticks, clean the bite and hands with iodine, alcohol or soap and water thoroughly. You should seek medical treatment as soon as possible.

 

After being bitten by ticks, if you feel unwell with fever, fatigue or headache, you should see a doctor and tell them about the situation, including the time and place where you were bitten. 

 

 

Humans may be infected with animal-borne infectious diseases such as avian influenza, brucellosis and anthrax by contacting animals (feeding, touching, slaughtering and processing), eating undercooked livestock and aquatic products (meat, eggs and milk), and by spending time in an animal habitat.

 

Prevention:

Avoid entering the habitat of wild birds and other animals, and do not touch or eat wild animals. 

 

Do not eat uncooked meat, eggs, milk and other livestock and aquatic products.