Your Covid safety toolkit
Understanding how Covid spreads
Covid is transmitted through the air. When an infected person breathes, talks, sings, shouts, coughs or sneezes, they release particles of the Covid virus – and other people breathe them in.
The smallest particles, aerosols, move through the air like invisible smoke. They hang in the air for hours and spread the virus across wide spaces. Just because a room is empty, you can’t assume it’s Covid-free.
Covid is widespread and easy to catch. People are often infectious before they show any symptoms. Some don’t even realise they have Covid. But this doesn’t stop them passing it on – or getting Long Covid or other health problems as a result.
This means that ‘sharing air’ with other people always comes with some risk. Your aim is to avoid breathing in any Covid particles from the air or to reduce the amount of virus you inhale as much as possible so that your body has a better chance of fighting it off.
Some things don’t help much. Covid is airborne – you can’t stop it just by washing your hands! And clear plastic visors, often known as face shields, provide no real protection, as air simply flows around the shield. But you can build a Covid safety toolkit that will help you keep safer.
Actions you can take to be safer
Make these practical actions part of your Covid toolkit to reduce your risk of infection or reinfection. Using several together increases the protection they give.
Wear a mask – check out our guide to masks and masking. Choose a good quality mask if you possibly can. They are much better at protecting you from infection – and at protecting others if you are infected. Always make sure the mask fits tightly on your face. Wearing a mask is the number one thing you can do to lower your risk, inside and in busier outdoor spaces. It’s easy, portable and relatively cheap!
Improve ventilation – meet up outside whenever you can. Inside, open windows and doors, to help bring in clean air and dilute or flush out dirty air. Opening lots of windows and opening them wide is best, but even opening them a crack will help. See our guide for schools, which contains generally useful information.
Test the air – buy or borrow a CO2 monitor (some libraries lend them). Use it in shared spaces to give you an idea of how dirty the air is. The higher the CO2, the more exhaled breath (potentially containing Covid) in the air. If the monitor shows that CO2 levels are above 700ppm it’s time to open some windows and doors to get clean air flowing in. If CO2 is above 1500ppm you should leave, if you can, until it is back at a safe level.
Clean the air – air purifiers clean the air by using a fan to push it through a filter. Always choose one with a HEPA filter, which captures very small particles like Covid. Make sure it is powerful enough for the spaces where you will use it - see our guide for schools on choosing and using air purifiers, with useful general information. A cheaper option is to build your own Corsi–Rosenthal Box. They are easy to make – and they work!
Keep your vaccinations up to date – vaccines significantly reduce the risk of serious initial health problems, hospitalisation or death from Covid. These protections save lives. But they don’t stop you from being infected, suffering from Long Covid, or passing Covid on to others. Vaccines are an essential part of your toolkit but not enough on their own to protect you and others.
Keep alert for new protections – researchers are working on new ways to protect people from Covid. ACA will be keeping up with developments and sharing information on our website. For example, there is emerging evidence that using a nasal spray containing iota carrageenan (such as Flo Travel), or azelastine hydrochloride (Dymista nasal spray), may lower your chances of getting infected and help reduce viral load. Nasal sprays containing nitric oxide or astodrimer sodium may also help but aren’t easily available in Aotearoa. Read more about nasal sprays.
Test for Covid – part of the purpose of your toolkit is to keep those around you safer if you are infectious. If think you may have been exposed to Covid, you feel ill or know you will be in contact with people at extra high risk of serious disease, use a RAT (free from many pharmacies) to test if you are infected. First swab the back of your throat and inside your cheeks, then swab your nostrils. This has been shown to get the most accurate results.
Stay aware of Covid levels in your area – this may help inform your choices about what you do. Infection levels vary from place to place and go up and down throughout out the year. Official figures are helpful but they don’t tell the full story, as fewer people are testing or reporting their results. Wastewater is being tested across the country. Its results are more accurate and consistently show higher infection levels. The data is complicated but some researchers such as David Hood are interpreting it for us.
