How to Properly Care for a Sick Person at Home (and Not Get Sick Yourself)

Note: This article was published on March 17 and is no longer being updated. This is a developing situation. Read our piece on "Your Coronavirus Questions Answered" for more information.

As hundreds of thousands of college students return home from spring break and closed campuses, a few of them are bound to have flu-like symptoms. Whether they have COVID-19 or the flu, they should stay away from the rest of the household. The CDC is specifically requesting that many Americans self-quarantine right now, including those who have or are being tested for COVID-19. Although a quarantine sounds like a solitary pursuit, it takes the proverbial village. Here are the supplies and tips you need to prepare a “hot zone” space for an infected person, especially if there are other vulnerable individuals (such as older people and those with other health conditions) in the home. As in Richard Preston’s relevant 1995 thriller, an important goal is keeping the virus contained within a certain area.

Step 1: Try to isolate as much as possible.

In an imaginary world of perfect sanitation, everyone would have their own bathroom, kitchen, and waste-disposal system. Since that’s impossible for many families, try to keep the sick person contained and as separate from vulnerable family members as possible. Dr. Saskia Popescu, a hospital epidemiologist and infection preventionist, recommends that the sick individual avoid “main areas like the living room and the kitchen, where there’s a lot of high-touch surfaces that we all share, and that I’d need to rapidly disinfect all the time.”

Step 2: Gather all the necessary gear (but please don’t hoard).

The next step is to imagine what your sick person will need in order to stay apart from everyone while remaining as comfortable as possible. “Realistically, I like to have that person stay in the bedroom and take care of themselves,” Popescu says. “If you have a bathroom they can use, that’s ideal.” People worried about stocking toilet paper during worldwide shortages may want to consider a bidet. The sick person will also need a room with decent airflow—preferably one with windows or an air conditioner. Most of our facial tissue picks are undergoing severe price gouging online right now, but you still might find some available locally. The main COVID-19 symptoms are fever, dry cough, fatigue, and shortness of breath, and runny noses are less common. But if you suspect that your loved one might have a run-of-the-mill sinus infection and they use a neti pot, here’s our pick. Humidifiers can also help with congestion. The caretaker will have to check with the person facing quarantine about what prescriptions and over-the-counter medications they need.

The sick person will probably want comfortable clothes, such as pajamas and robes. They could use their own bedding and towels, and you’ll need laundry detergent. A decent lined trash can is a key self-protective measure for caretakers.

Step 3: Wipe everything down.

The next and ongoing step is to wipe down everything, especially countertops, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets, and bedside tables, with a disinfectant. Some good news: SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is relatively vulnerable to disinfectants. Most household cleaners and soaps kill it, and the EPA has registered cleaning products that are effective against this virus. Our household cleaner picks are not disinfectants, so check the EPA registry to make sure that what you’re using is effective.

Step 4: How to use a mask (if you have one already).

Beyond the bedroom, the wishlist gets more aspirational. Namely, people want face masks. At Wirecutter and elsewhere, it has been widely reported how surgical masks won’t protect you from a virus and why you shouldn’t stockpile them if you haven’t already. That said, questions remain about how to best use masks in your home if you’re sick or caring for someone who is sick, and whether masks provide a useful barrier to stop you from touching your own face.

“Any kind of masks, surgical or N95, pose risk if not handled correctly, and healthcare workers really need these masks,” said Dr. Eli Perencevich, professor of internal medicine and epidemiology at the University of Iowa’s College of Medicine. Currently, surgical masks and N95 respirators are almost entirely sold out online and in stores, but if you’ve stockpiled beforehand, Perencevich says you should “absolutely” wear one at home if you’re feeling symptoms and share a house or apartment with others, so long as you are extremely careful about that usage.

“If you have a single mask, put it on a sick person. If you have a few extras, put it on the person who is caretaking,” says Perencevich. But each mask should remain single-use because if you’re the caretaker and the mask gets damp, “the virus can soak through and get to your face, and even when you put the mask on, you can auto contaminate,” Perencevich says. “They’re not designed for long term use and there is no evidence that they’re helpful” unless you yourself are sick.

And what about a makeshift cloth mask if you don’t have any surgical masks? “A bandana I would not recommend,” says Popescu. “What I see often is people using makeshift masks and they don’t need to be wearing them and then not washing their hands and touching their eyes all the time and then their mouth.” Popescu, like Perencevich, encourages people to wear masks only if they’re sick, but figures it’s unlikely that an ill person will have the stamina to keep one on 24/7, since masks can get uncomfortable quickly.

Step 5: Keep anything food-related as clean as possible.

In an ideal world, the infected person has their own cupboards, cooking set, and dishwasher and can stay out of the communal kitchen entirely. Does your sick room have its own pantry? If it does, here’s a guide to stocking it efficiently. The sick person should have dedicated cups, cutlery, and plates or bowls. If that’s not possible, make sure you have plenty of dish soap.

The sick person will eventually need to go to the hospital, or get better. People should not stop isolating themselves until their doctors tell them to, according to Popescu. If they get better but are still stuck inside, they’ll soon need to start attending to more than just their immediate physical needs by working from home or finding new ways to connect with family and friends.

Popescu says that most of this advice applies whether someone has the newsworthy virus or a more familiar bug. “If you have proven COVID-19 or flu, you should always want to try to self-isolate and prevent the spread,” she says. “Especially to vulnerable people that you might interact with.”