Health Resources
CoVid 19
Wash Your Hands
Washing your hands is one of the most important steps you can take in staying healthy. When you wash, make sure you:
Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the "Happy Birthday" song from beginning to end twice.
Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them. Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to get rid of germs in most situations.
If soap and water are not readily available, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol.
Cover Your Mouth and Nose
Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your elbow when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) does not recommend the routine use of face masks and respirators in the community. Most often, the spread of germs from person-to-person happens among close contacts (within 6 feet).
Avoid Touching Your Face
Avoid touching your face with unwashed hands. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
Clean Surfaces
Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces — especially when someone is ill.
Practice Social Distancing
Stay home as much as you can
Avoid public spaces
Keep at least 6 feet between you and others if you must go out
Don't attend or host large gatherings
Avoid using mass transit
Don't schedule playdates for your children
Coronavirus Symptoms and Testing
What are the symptoms of coronavirus?
Symptoms of COVID-19 can include:
Fever
Cough
Shortness of breath
Diarrhea
The symptoms may appear in as few as two days or as long as 14 days after exposure. Reported illnesses have ranged from people with little to no symptoms to people being severely ill and dying.
Head Lice
How do I treat head lice?
There are two effective head lice treatments. Be sure to follow the directions for your preferred treatment exactly.
The 10-day hair conditioner treatment
Insecticide hair treatments
The 10-day hair conditioner treatment
Head lice can be removed by applying plenty of hair conditioner to dry hair and then combing to remove live lice and eggs. The conditioner makes it hard for the lice to move and traps them in the teeth of the comb. The conditioner also detangles hair, making combing easier.
Why does the treatment take 10 days?
Eggs generally hatch 7 to 10 days after being laid on the hair shaft (the part of your hair closest to the scalp). The 10-day treatment period helps break the reproductive cycle of the head lice. Even if only one or two adult lice are missed, they can lay about 6 eggs per day, and the cycle of outbreaks will continue.
Combing out new hatchlings every 1 to 2 days also means they cannot lay further eggs, which can happen about a week after hatching.
What do I need?
Any type of hair conditioner, including generic ‘home’ brands. Using white hair conditioner may make it easier to see the head lice.
A metal fine-tooth ‘nit comb’ (available from most pharmacies).
What to do
Apply plenty of hair conditioner to the dry hair until it is saturated.
Comb through with an ordinary comb or brush to remove tangles.
Section and comb the hair thoroughly with the nit comb in 4 directions – forwards, backwards, left and right.
Wipe the comb on a white paper towel to check that the dark adult lice or the paler hatchlings (young lice) are being removed. You may need to use a magnifying glass and a strong light to see the lice and eggs.
Continue combing the hair in sections until the whole head has been checked.
Some eggs will be removed by combing but you may need to use your fingernails to remove as many eggs as possible from the base of the hair shaft near the scalp. Hatchlings that emerge from missed eggs will be removed by combing with conditioner over the 10-day period. Only eggs within 1cm of the scalp will hatch. Eggs that have grown further out with the hair shaft will have already hatched or died.
When you have finished checking, rinse the conditioner out and dry the hair.
Repeat this process every 1 to 2 days over the 10-day treatment period. To save time during a school week, consider this combing schedule: Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday.
Check the waste material you comb out for adult head lice each day after combing. If any are found, this indicates a new outbreak and you will need to start again from day 1, as new eggs may have been laid by the adult lice.
Check for head lice once a week for at least 4 weeks after you complete the 10-day treatment. You may wish to do this on the weekend when you have more time. Applying plenty of hair conditioner makes combing easier and more effective.
Check all other household members for head lice and treat as necessary.
TicKs
Check your body for ticks after being outdoors.
Conduct a full body check upon return from potentially tick-infested areas, including your own backyard. Use a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body. Check these parts of your body and your child’s body for ticks:
Under the arms
In and around the ears
Inside belly button
Back of the knees
In and around the hair
Between the legs
Around the waist
After You Come Indoors
Check your clothing for ticks. Ticks may attach to clothing. Remove any ticks and wash clothes or put them in dryer if damp. Tumble dry clothes in a dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing after you come indoors. If the clothes are damp, you may need to dry them longer. When washing clothes first, use hot water. Cold and medium temperature water will not kill ticks effectively.
Check your body for ticks after being outdoors. Conduct a full body check when coming from potentially tick-infested areas, even your back yard. Use a hand-held or full-length mirror to view all parts of your body. Check you and your children for ticks after coming indoors.
Shower soon after being outdoors. Showering within two hours of coming indoors has been shown to reduce your risk of getting Lyme disease and may be effective in reducing the risk of other tickborne diseases. Showering may help wash off unattached ticks and it is a good opportunity to do a tick check.
To remove a tick, grasp it with tweezers, as close to the skin as possible, and pull it straight out.
For more information about removing ticks, see the tick removal page.
Watch for signs of sickness such as rash or fever in the days and weeks following the bite. Your risk of getting a tickborne disease depends on many factors, including where you live, the type of tick that bit you, and how long the tick was attached. Be sure to see a health care provider if you become sick after a tick bite, have a rash or a fever.