Respiratory Illness Prevention Measures from Hamilton Public Health Services
Are you wondering how you can help protect yourself and others from respiratory illness? The City of Hamilton website continues to be an excellent source of information from Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS).
It is important to continue being mindful that COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses like flu and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) are circulating in the community, even as public health measures are changing. Understanding your risk and taking actions to protect yourself and others is important to help slow the viral spread.
Individuals should assess their own personal level of risk for severe outcomes from respiratory illnesses like COVID-19, flu, and RSV, and be mindful that there are community members who remain at higher risk for serious outcomes.
Explore the tabs below to learn how you can help to prevent the spread of COVID-19 when gathering and by wearing a mask. You can also visit the City of Hamilton website to learn more about:
- Getting vaccinated
- Wearing a mask
- Staying home if you are unwell and testing for COVID-19 when possible
- Cleaning and disinfecting
- Get your flu shot and stay up to date with your COVID-19 vaccinations. Vaccination remains an important way to protect against COVID-19 & influenza.
- Wearing a well-fitting medical mask indoors, especially when it’s crowded, is strongly recommended.
- Wear a well-fitting medical mask around others while you recover from respiratory symptoms for 10 days from when your symptoms started.
- Screening for respiratory symptoms daily and stay home if you are feeling unwell. Take a COVID-19 test if you have symptoms.
- If you get COVID-19 or the flu, you may be eligible to receive antiviral treatment. Talk to your healthcare provider to find out if you would be eligible and, if you are, where you can access antivirals if you become infected.
- Wash your hands thoroughly and regularly with soap and water or alcohol-based sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your eyes, mouth and nose.
- Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue or sneeze/cough into your upper sleeve or elbow.
- Clean and disinfect surfaces. A list of cleaners and disinfectants is available on Health Canada’s website.
- Reduce your risk by avoiding crowded places, close-contact settings, and confined and enclosed spaces with poor ventilation. If you do gather with others, open windows to increase ventilation if safe and feasible and keep the length of gatherings short. Reduce your risk further by limiting your social contacts.
- Do activities when it is less busy.
- When using shared transportation such as a taxi or car share, lower risk by sitting in the back seat, wearing a mask and opening the window, as weather allows.
- Do not get together with others if you are feeling unwell, have any COVID-19 symptoms, or have been exposed to a person with COVID-19.
- Gatherings are safer outdoors than indoors.
- The fewer people who gather, the lower the risk of COVID-19.
- Clean your hands thoroughly and regularly.
- Open windows to increase ventilation if safe and feasible.
- Keep the length of the gathering short.
Click here for more information about preventing COVID-19 spread on the City of Hamilton website.
Wearing a well-fitted face mask when you are sick protects people who are around you. Since some people who are infected with COVID-19 may have the virus and not know it, whenever people you are going out and might come into close contact with other people, they you should assess your personal level of risk and consider wearing a face mask. When other people wear a well-fitted face mask, they are helping to protect you as well.
Masks can help:
- contain your respiratory particles
- prevent or reduce the amount of infectious respiratory particles you inhale, particularly when wearing a well-constructed, well-fitting mask
Click here for more information about masks on the City of Hamilton website.
Updated on Wednesday, March 01, 2023.