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COVID-19: About the Virus

This guide is here to help you wade through all of the information being put out about the virus as well as resources to help in your time as you socially distance yourself.

Responses to the Pandemic

Tips for Prevention

CDC Recommendations to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19

Even if you are a healthy person, follow the CDC guidelines to prevent the infection of those whose immune systems are compromised and the effects of the disease may be more harmful.

1) Wash your hands. This is great practice for doing it from now on if you haven't already.

You to your sink:

2) Stay in social isolation as often as possible. Stay 6 feet away from others and do not travel unnecessarily.

3) If you are healthy and it is necessary to leave your home for a little while:

  • Keep unwashed hands away from your face as you transfer anything you have touched to your face.
  • Use hand sanitizer that has at least 60% alcohol to clean hands when possible.
  • If you are a healthy person whose immune system is not otherwise compromised, you do not need medical-grade face masks or gloves if/when you are outside. As long as you are conscious of where your hands are and do not allow folks within 6 feet of you, you are following CDC guidelines*. There is a shortage of gloves and masks and those who are working in the medical field need these to protect themselves and their patients.
    • If you feel you must have a face mask* or gloves, consider a cloth option or home-maintenance masks or gloves (painters gloves or dust masks, for example). Please be mindful that gloves do not prevent the spread of germs from surface to surface. Once the gloves are on, they protect only your hands. If you choose to wear gloves, continue to avoid touching your face and dispose of them properly when you are through with them. Your hands will be cleaner underneath if you take them off properly and do not touch the outsides of the gloves with your bare hands.
    • *The CDC has now updated with a suggestion: wear homemade cloth face masks. It can potentially mitigate some spread.
    • The CDC is still not recommending respirator use for people who are not dealing directly with patients with COVID-19 and recommending washing your hands regularly to prevent the spread of germs.
  • Disinfect your surroundings when you get home:
    • Wash your hands after you get home, then disinfect the areas you have touched after being outside, including (but not limited to):
      • Your steering wheel
      • The door handles of your car, both inside and outside of your vehicle
      • The door handles of your residence that you touched on the way inside
      • Bathroom sink faucet handles
      • Your keys
      • Your wallet & credit card if you handled it after you left the house
  • Grocery Shopping advice during the pandemic

4) If you are sick....

  • Follow the full CDC guidelines for if you are sick
  • Quick Summary:
    • Set up a quarantine area in your home to separate yourself from others as much as possible.
    • Stay home unless you are seeking medical attention.
    • Wear a face mask when you are around other people
    • Cough into a tissue and then throw it away
    • Wash your hands after you cough or sneeze
    • Do not share food, dishes, towels, bedding, toiletries, etc. with others while you are ill
    • Make sure the areas you have touched are disinfected
    • Be in touch with your doctor.

You, after making sure to follow the CDC rules:

 

Fact Checkers

There is a lot of misinformation that floats around the internet through memes, statistics that have not been backed with data, and many other routes of misinformation. How are we supposed to filter through it all?

Politifact

  • Page for coronavirus claims

  • From their "about us" page: "Fact-checking journalism is the heart of PolitiFact. Our core principles are independence, transparency, fairness, thorough reporting and clear writing. The reason we publish is to give citizens the information they need to govern themselves in a democracy."

  • Great to use for checking whether information about politics is reliable or not

Media Bias Chart

  • Knowing where the biases and reliability of certain news sources is key to getting the best information possible. This chart, run by Ad Fontes Media, shows the biases of certain sites that are centered on journalism.

FactCheck

  • Page for Coronavirus claims

  • Mission Statement: We are a nonpartisan, nonprofit “consumer advocate” for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews and news releases. Our goal is to apply the best practices of both journalism and scholarship, and to increase public knowledge and understanding.

Snopes

  • Page for COVID-19 claims
  • One of the go-to sites for rumors that seem to seep into social media pages. These tend to lean into the area of ridiculousness that can only be born on social media pages.

CoronaVirusFactsAlliance by Poynter Institute

  • from the page linked above: "Led by the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at the Poynter Institute, the #CoronaVirusFacts / #DatosCoronaVirus Alliance unites more than 100 fact-checkers around the world in publishing, sharing and translating facts surrounding the novel coronavirus."

CRAAP Test

As with all information, it's important to verify the accuracy of what is being shared.  Here's a handy tool librarians use called the CRAAP Test.

from this LibGuide from the Daytona State Library

Confronting Coronavirus: PBS NewsHour

Contributing Librarians

Ms. Paige Crumbley '14, Assistant Professor/Access Services Librarian

paige.crumbley@hawks.huntingdon.edu

Prof. Eric A. Kidwell, Professor/Director of the Library

ekidwell@hawks.huntingdon.edu