If you made boosters and regular vaccinations a part of your routine during the pandemic, it’s still a good idea to keep up with them. Many people die of the flu each year, and annual vaccinations can help save lives. Vaccines and boosters became especially important for preventing serious illness during the pandemic, and not just for COVID-19. “These are things we were recommending even before COVID.” Vaccinate as needed “Avoid undercooked meats and eggs, unpasteurized dairy products, that sort of thing,” Segreti says. Some of the things at-risk people should do are the same as before the pandemic. “Someone who’s immunosuppressed, like those who’ve had a recent stem cell transplant or solid organ transplant, should continue to take precautions.”

“You should discuss it with your physician,” Segreti says. That will likely continue to be the case. People who were immunocompromised or lived with someone who was during the pandemic had to take extra care because of the higher risk of serious illness and complications. “The better the mask, the better the protection.” Assess your risk “If you're at high risk, if you're indoors and in a poorly ventilated, crowded area, you should be wearing a mask,” Segreti says. People who are at risk and can’t social distance may still want to carry a mask. “If you’re at higher risk for becoming infected, and more importantly if you do get infected, if you’re going to have serious disease, require hospitalization or possibly die, then social distancing would continue to make sense.” “Everyone has to decide what risk they’re willing to take,” Segreti says. But if you are at high risk, you may want to keep your personal space whenever possible. It was pretty common to see signs advising six feet of distance in lines at stores, and chairs at places that still had seating were spread far apart.įor people who aren’t at high risk for serious infections, social distancing may not continue to be as important. Social distancing became the norm during the pandemic. “The alcohol works just as well and takes a lot less time,” Segreti says. If you’re in a hurry and can’t spare 20 seconds to get your hands clean, you can use alcohol or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer instead. “And as far as how long? The CDC recommends 20 seconds.” “Wash your hands more rather than less,” Segreti says. Just as we should have been washing our hands frequently and thoroughly before the pandemic, we should continue to do so now. Maybe you counted or sang a short song while soaping up to make sure you were scrubbing for long enough. While washing your hands has always been an important way to fight the spread of diseases, it became an essential precaution during the pandemic. John Segreti, MD, epidemiologist and medical director of Infection Control and Prevention at RUSH, has some advice as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, as COVID-19 guidelines and restrictions relax and life goes on as usual, we again must decide on what pandemic-era safety measures we should keep taking and which ones we can put behind us. Most of us stopped wearing gloves everywhere and wiping down our groceries, but we still masked up and kept social distancing among other measures to stay safe. Remember the precautions you took during the early days of the pandemic? Many of us donned masks and gloves, wiped our groceries down when we brought them inside and finally paid attention to how much we were washing our hands.Īs doctors and scientists came to understand COVID-19 a bit better, their recommendations for safety changed.

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