What is Quarantine during an Outbreak?

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During a disease outbreak, you may need to quarantine your family to keep the disease from entering your home. But it’s challenging to isolate your family if you don’t have supplies on hand to survive for a long time. A lot of people do not know what is quarantine and how you do it.

You may also encounter a situation where you have a sick family member that needs to be quarantined from the rest of the household. If you don’t come in close contact with a virus, you can’t get sick from it.

We learned a bit from the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, and people’s general failure to take social distancing seriously. With older adults, people with a compromised immune system, or other issues? It was life-threatening for many and hard to watch people on “Spring Break” romping on the Florida beaches when we were all trying to be responsible.

Some of these tips may seem a bit extreme but consider the situation. If we are talking about Ebola, they seem more understandable. For those with family members with high-risk factors? It makes a little bit more sense. It pays to plan ahead, as once a pandemic hits? It is hard to find supplies. These tips should help anyone who wonders : “What is Quarantine”

How to Quarantine Your Family During an Outbreak

The purpose of quarantine, then, is to prevent the possibility of coming into contact with a virus that can be deadly and spread quickly – just as the common cold is easily spread.

Keep Disease Out of Your Home

If the purpose of quarantine is to keep a healthy family member well, you’ll need to be prepared ahead of time with all of the supplies you need for food, sanitation, and hygiene.

You’ll want to seal off the outside entrances of your home using duct tape and plastic sheeting to cover doors and windows. Most people find it helpful to cut out plastic sheeting ahead of time that will fit these entrances so that in times of stress, all you have to do is tape them up. Make sure you label them for ease of the job.

It’s essential to have a designated area outdoors where you’ll place items such as used bags for personal waste. It’s not a good idea to store these in your home because they increase the risk of developing a host of diseases. We really like these Double Doodie Bags that fit a 5-gallon pail.

Once you’re sheltered in place, you’ll want to keep communication lines open with radio communication so that you’ll know when it’s safe to leave your home.

How is your first aid kit?

Make sure your medical kit is up to snuff too – we love MediTac for our supplies – and they have free shipping for all orders over $50. We keep a kit at home, one in the camper, and one in each car.

What to Do When a Family Member Is Ill

A more likely scenario when it comes to illness is that you’ll have one or more members of your family who have become ill. Those people will need to be quarantined in a room of your home or another nearby place.

For example, if you have a motor home, cabin, or detached garage, you can use these as quarantine areas. These rooms need to be sealed off with duct tape and plastic sheeting.

You’ll also need to place a sign on the entrance stating that it is a confined area. This sign warns people to stay out unless they’re wearing protective clothing. Right outside the door, you’ll need to set up a sanitation area that contains soap, water, latex gloves, masks, and other protective equipment as required.

Before people enter the room, they need to put on the proper protective gear. Before returning to the rest of the household, they need to properly dispose of gloves, masks, and other disposable items and make sure they wash their hands thoroughly.

Do You Have kids?

We haven’t seen a lot of the quarantine culture in our country as vaccines have been developed to handle everything from Measles to Small Pox. (thank goodness!) I remember the stories from my own grandpa about signs on the houses, etc. from when he was a boy.

It can be a very scary time for the littles – so maybe practice with a loved stuffy or two prior to any event actually occurring. Once they are comfortable with the concepts, or idea? They will be a part of your team in the event of any real emergency.