In the Face of Viral Fears, Community Wellness is Key

What’s Best For You

As the world around you begins to uproot and events are canceled, we are shifting to protect what’s most important; our people. We are in unprecedented territory as a global community and the most important measure we can take is to stay informed and to stay calm. You are receiving a lot of information from all types of sources, so what should you do?

Stay Updated

Preparedness is appropriate; panic is not. The majority of cases are due to “community spread,” meaning patients didn’t travel to countries with large outbreaks or have close contact with anyone who caught COVID-19 internationally. Instead, they are suspected to have caught the virus while going about their daily lives—suggesting it’s circulating in communities around the US and has been for a time. It has become clear that people with underlying conditions such as heart disease, chronic lung disease, diabetes, and other immune suppressant conditions, particularly among older adults, are at risk. Avoid crowded places and non-essential travel. If you or your spouse have important prescriptions, you should make sure you have enough to get you through a lengthy homestay.

Your Health is Paramount

As your personal onsite management, we take great responsibility for your health and wellness. In an effort to mitigate the risk of bringing outside illness in and potentially infecting our residents, Cove sponsored community events have been canceled until further notice. In an effort to ensure we continue a non-infected zone at all Cove communities, we have doubled our cleaning regimens, especially in high touch-point areas, and have added hand washing best practices and multiple sanitization stations in communal areas.

In the meantime, we have gathered some tips and tricks to help you navigate this time…

1. Make your own hand sanitizer!

The first step is to pour 91% alcohol into a medium container with a pouring spout. Then, add a ½ cup of aloe vera gel. Alcohol can be hard on your skin, so using aloe is a good way to counteract that effect and keep your hands smooth. If you want to keep it natural, you can use aloe vera gel straight from the plant as the alcohol will act as a preservative. Then add about 15 drops of the essential oil of your choice. Tea tree oil is naturally antibacterial, so it makes sense to use it here. But if you’re not a fan of its smell, you can use another type of essential oil, like grapefruit, lemongrass, or eucalyptus. Finally, whisk your hand sanitizer into a homogeneous gel. Label your containers. You don’t want any accidents where you or anybody else ingests your newly made hand sanitizer. Here is a video breakdown of this process.

2. Build Up a Healthy Immune System – Try These Recipes at Home! 

Take a good look at your current diet. Can you improve your veggie intake? Be better about how much sugar you consume? Here are some helpful tips to make better wellness choices in the kitchen:

• Stay Hydrated. Drink about 55 ounces of water every single day. Water helps dissolve minerals and nutrients, making them more accessible to the body and is crucial for your digestive system to operate properly.
• Satisfy your sweet tooth. Delight your palette with stone fruits and fresh berries. Utilize naturally sweet vegetables: carrots, beets, sweet potatoes, yams, onions, bell peppers, and squash reduce your cravings for added sugar. Add them to soups, stews, or pasta sauces for a satisfying sweet kick.
• Cook green beans, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, and asparagus in new ways. Instead of boiling or steaming these healthy sides, try grilling, roasting, or pan-frying them with chili flakes, garlic, shallots, mushrooms, or onion. Or marinate in tangy lemon or lime before cooking. Yum!
• Cooking more meals at home can help you take charge of what you’re eating and better monitor exactly what goes into your food. You’ll eat fewer calories and avoid chemical additives, added sugar, and unhealthy fats of packaged and takeout foods.
• Check out these easy recipes to ease your way into a healthier lifestyle. Instead of feeling tired, bloated, and irritable–You’ll quickly find you have excess energy and a boosted mood.

3. Get Your Body Moving!

It’s no question that exercise, when done properly, is proven to boost overall health. This includes brain function, reversing aging effects, even memory improvement. But in the midst of a potential pandemic, can you still use the same communal gyms and take group classes?

• Keeping it Clean: Check with management about the frequency and methods of cleaning the studio, equipment, and communal areas.
• Virtual Workouts: With the advent of online training, there are a multitude of outlets where you can stream fitness services from the comfort of your living room
• Enjoy the outdoors: Feel free to ride your bike or enjoy a nice walk to get the blood flowing where you have ventilation via a nice cross breeze.
• Wash Your Hands: After touching anything and everything. It is better to overdo it on this one. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds.

4. Curate Your Craft!

Canceling activities at a community level can have a lot of impact on our happiness and social distancing can be tough. Even if you’re not concerned about your own health, it’s important that we take into consideration the health and wellbeing of others. Quarantine is as much for their sake as it is for your own. There is a multitude of resources accessible online in order to inspire your next homegrown hobby from candle making to creating your own house ornamentation. You may even challenge distant friends to virtual matches on this chess app or share the occasional photo of your completed craft to your group text. Scheduling an hour to game online with a friend or swapping recipes in your group chat are small measures, but they let people know that you’re thinking about them, even when you don’t get to see them.

The Value of Connectivity

Our hearts do go out to those around the world who’ve been impacted by the novel coronavirus and we take our duty to keep our communities and team members safe very seriously. We are monitoring the situation closely and are following health official’s guidance as well as industry experts to ensure best practices. We wish you wellness and are here should you need any additional resources.