FORT MYERS, FLA — As people prepare to return to Southwest Florida from countries with high concentrations of COVID-19, some are wondering what they should be doing.
Alex Daneshmand, Chief quality safety officer at Lee Health, says if you have mild coughing or sneezing do this:
"You want to try and self-quarantine yourself," said Daneshmand.
Daneshmand recommends you do it for up to 14 days.
But he's also encouraging self-isolation for anyone locally who may have similar symptoms related to the flu or a cold.
"You want to really be in an area where you are not exposing other people to your cough, to your respiratory symptoms that you may have," said Daneshmand.
The idea is that you help keep people healthy, just in general, but also in case they're exposed to COVID-19.
But what should that isolation look like?
"Make sure you can stay in one room and really keep that area clean and the rest of the area of the house you know when they come in there, you gotta make sure you clean up right after that so that there are no surfaces available that the viruses can survive," said Daneshmand.
If you come back from a country with a large spread of COVID-19 and you're symptoms are really bad, he recommend this:
"I think at that time the first step should be contacting the primary care physician," said Daneshmand.
If you are experiencing fever, cough and shortness of breath while under isolation and absolutely need to leave your home, take these precautions:
"Obviously masking is very important. But the recommendation is you don't go out if you don't have to," said Daneshmand.
