So you're worried about COVID-19. Who isn't? We're being told to hunker down as much as possible and socially distance ourselves from one another. Obviously the best choice for everyone is to stay home, turn on Netflix, maybe see when that box of dehydrated mashed potatoes expired. But while it's good advice to tell the public to avoid non-essential trips outdoors, avoid human contact and stay inside, sometimes it's just not possible. Maybe you need to get some fresh air and stretch your legs, or maybe you just fell victim to the sudden (and inexplicable) rush to buy toilet paper. Regardless, here are some practical (and non-medical) pointers for what to do if you have to venture out of your own personal quarantine zone.

Wear Gloves
I know, you heard about the buying frenzy over face masks and now you have a bunch of those. You beat the system and nothing can infect you, right? Wrong. It's been stated by many medical professionals that face masks are more effective at keeping the virus in than out, which means that if someone who's sick is wearing one then that's good for everybody. But wearing one yourself won't necessarily protect you from the virus. That's because the odds of a sick person coughing in your face are fairly low, compared with the odds that they will cough or sneeze on their hands, then touch something, then you touch that thing, then you touch your face and infect yourself. Wear gloves for an extra layer of protection, and please don't touch your face while wearing them.

Minimize Contact
Even with gloves you'll want to minimize your contact with objects to prevent your hands/gloves from getting infected. Remember when those accessible door-opening buttons were mostly for lazy people and the differently abled? Well not anymore. Hitting one of those with an elbow or arm is much preferable to slapping it with your hand, or pulling the door open manually. There are also times when you'll need to hit other buttons to continue on your journey. Elevator buttons, touchscreens and similar interfaces can be activated with a knuckle rather than a fingertip, and again gloves are much preferred. Also, remember the social distancing thing? It's not just a catchphrase, it's a measurement: six feet, minimum.

Go Cashless
Speaking of avoiding contact, there are few objects that pass through multiple people's possession quite the way that physical currency does. Bills and coins can have numerous owners just over the course of a few hours. Minimize your risk by going cashless. Use tap, Apple Pay, e-Transfers or whatever other means you can use whenever possible. Or take this as an opportunity to cut down on your transactions and cut down on your risk of transmission while saving some cash along the way. It's win-win. Some businesses have even taken the precaution of limiting transactions to just debit and credit anyways, and the likelihood of banks waiving transaction fees for the good of our health and their own PR is quite high.

Disinfect
Now that most people on Earth are paying more attention to the things that they touch than ever before, perhaps it's a good time to also think about how clean those objects are? It's now a cliche to talk about how filthy everyone's smartphone is, and I'd bet a 24-roll of Charmin that you touch that more often than you wash your hands. So consider disinfecting your phone, doorknobs, taps, remotes, game controllers and any other objects you might touch many times in a single day. Clorox wipies are good, but if you didn't get some before everyone went nuts and bought everything in sight, there are other options. You can use Purell or rubbing alcohol or many similar solutions on a rag or paper towel and use that to wipe things down. Don't feel like you're embracing paranoia. Cleanliness is next to godliness, and this is a pandemic. Every little bit counts.

Wear Gloves
Are you wearing gloves yet? They're a great way to protect yourself and your fellow humans. You are? Well good, now get another pair. If your other pair is washable then wash them. If they're disposable then consider disposing of them. Dollar store gloves are cheap enough that you can buy a few pairs easily and even throw them out without worry. This is important when you consider that germs and other biological hazards can live within the material long after you've taken them off. Plastic, latex, or even rubber gloves are also a practical but less fashionable option. And for taking them off, it's best to pull them off from the fingertips rather than to reach inside and yank them off that way. And once they're off it's time to go wash your hands again.