Security Services in Toronto

Health and Security – Protection from Epidemics

It seems that every time society seems to get a grasp of the latest thing thats been thrown our way, life likes to mix things up.

We’ve gone through periods where terrorism seemed to be becoming more routine. We never knew if our next vacation, meal, concert, or trip down the sidewalk would become the next target.

Constantly watching our backs and eyeing everyone with a hint of suspicion.

School shootings have been on the rise and not only were our children coming home learning everything from math, science, and history – but they were drilling on active shooters and finding the best escape routes and hiding places.

We have spent a lot of time looking for physical threats. Avoiding crowds, hiding in crowds, and staying neutral.

Watching our backs, watching what we say, and watching how we say it.

Now we’re faced with a new threat.

The Coronavirus seems to be the latest in rapidly spreading epidemics. Causing travel chaos for many and tying many of those that were already abroad into quarantine hell.

Forget watching for physical threats or shady individuals, anyone with the common cold is now the enemy.

Every sniffle, cough, sneeze becomes more and more suspicious.

With numbers of those that have contracted the disease on the rise, and this rapidly crawling across the globe and into our neighbourhoods, it is definitely cause for concern.

People have died from this and continue to do so.

Outside of quarantine – which is only effective if the virus is caught in time and all those effected are isolated – there is currently no real protection.

Short of self isolation and staying in your own home without allowing others to come in, protecting yourself from health risks such as this can be difficult.

While it may be difficult however, it is not impossible. And there are certainly actions you can take to help provide the spread of disease.

Much like you would take active steps to protect yourself from the spread of germs – being on the giving or receiving end, you would continue to do so now.

First up on your security plan – wash your hands.

This is something that your parents taught you to do when you were little and is something you should be doing throughout the day.

If you go out in public spaces or touching things that others may have touched, make sure you take the couple extra minutes to wash your hands and help reduce the risk of germ spread.

If washing your hands isn’t always a viable option – for when you are out and about, carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

A lot of places have this already readily available and even more so as the hype and fear of the Coronavirus ramp up.

When the fear initially struck, local stores were immediately hit with a rush of customers. They instantly sold out of hand sanitizer and face masks as everyone was sent into panic mode.

Whether or not it will actually help, it didn’t matter. People were being faced with a rapidly spreading epidemic that people have died from, so no chances are being taken.

While the severity of this virus seems to vary based on the individual that catches it – it seems that this will run the same course of action as a cold or flu. The weaker your immune system, the harder the hit. Those with respiratory issues are also more at risk.

Those that seem to be relatively average when it comes to health and immune systems, don’t seem to be hit as hard.

While in other countries, cities are going into full lock down and restricting contact with others, people in this area that develop symptoms – if they don’t need hospitalization, they are merely sent home for self isolation.

Time away from people and the public, resting it out in your bed until symptoms reside.

While the outcome of the total severity of this situation is still very much up in the air, precautions are still being taken even if it means trying to protect the public from something like the common cold or flu.

In the meantime, while we can’t deploy a security team to actively patrol and prevent the spread of something like this, we can all do our due diligence to be mindful and take our own precautions.

While we all still need to live our lives and be unafraid to leave our houses, we should still be taking the usual precautions – especially in these winter months. Wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough – the basics you were taught growing up, could be the very things that save you from this current epidemic.

 

 

 

 

 

Guest Blogger Rayna Davies

Rayna Davies is a graduate and practitioner of Business Management.  She has developed an expertise in blogging, covering subjects like travel, world events and security.  Having grown up with a father who has developed an expertise in Physical Security and Executive Protection in the RCMP and two major corporations, she has personally observed and experienced many security details.  These experiences have included personally meeting HM Queen Elizabeth, Prime Minister Jean Chretien and many celebrities.  She presently assists Sentinel Security in Executive Protection workshops and guest blogging and also assists Gloprosec Preventative Services in Intelligence gathering and Business Administration.  Her passions include World travel, having visited every continent.