Is it safe to have a reflexology session?
As I talk with clients and other reflexologists and other business owners the one thing that is clear to me is that this is a personal decision. I’ll do everything in my power to keep your sessions as beneficial and safe as possible, but the risks don’t seem to be even for everyone across the board plus we all have our own levels of risk tolerance.
To help you make your decision, I’ve gathered some information that can help you assess the situation using the best data we have right now.
How does the virus spread?
Primarily COVID-19 is being spread through respiratory droplets in the air or from the droplets that have landed on a surface (surface spreading seems to be less common than air, but still a possibility for transmission).
The most common location for transmission is in the home where family members get it from someone else in their household who is sick. That said, people are obviously also contracting it in the community before bringing it home.
Some studies are also indicating that a small percent (maybe 20%) of those infected are doing most of the spreading and that’s probably because of where and how they are spending their time.
According to Erin S. Bromage, Ph.D., who is an Associate Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth.
“When you think of outbreak clusters, what are the big ones that come to mind? Most people would say cruise ships. But you would be wrong. Ship outbreaks, while concerning, don’t land in the top 50 outbreaks to date.
“Ignoring the terrible outbreaks in nursing homes, we find that the biggest outbreaks are in prisons, religious ceremonies, and workplaces, such as meat packing facilities and call centers. Any environment that is enclosed, with poor air circulation and high density of people, spells trouble.”
Bromage also comments that most community outbreaks have the following in common: “All these infection events were indoors, with people closely-spaced, with lots of talking, singing, or yelling.”
Another study has pointed out that there’s only one documented instance where the virus was contracted in China that wasn’t from an indoor setting.
The risk of COVID-19 infection seems to be summed up in this formula:
Infection Risk = Exposure to Virus x Time
Meaning that the longer you are exposed, the greater your risk of infection. Also the more you’re exposed to the virus, the greater your risk of infection.
Minimizing the amount of the virus you are exposed to and minimizing the length of time you are exposed will decrease your risk of infection.
According to an Oxford University study,
45% of infections are from pre-symptomatic carriers (people who are sick but haven’t started showing symptoms yet, but will)
40% from people who have symptoms
10% from the environment
5% from people who are asymptomatic (meaning sick but never develop symptoms)
Important safeguards to reduce and hopefully prevent transmission:
Clean hands – Proper hand washing is still on the top of the list as an important step to keep you from touching a contaminated surface and then touching your face. Soap can actually destroy viruses with 20 seconds of contact.
Masks – Masks were getting some conflicting reports early on, but now many experts believe masks are very important to stop a second wave. To better understand how this works, Erin Bromage has one of the best illustrations in her post on masks.
Ventilation – Risks are lower outside than inside and if you have to be inside, having fresh air circulating is better as is having HEPA filters to purify the air. Indoor spaces become riskier with the more people that are in the space, the longer the time is spent in that space, and based on how the air circulation patterns work.
Distance – Maintaining physical distancing of 6 feet / 1 meter because that is how far the respiratory droplets can travel in typical situations.
Brief interactions – Minimizing time spent in enclosed spaces where people are speaking a lot or singing.
Fewer people – This comes down to basic probability and statistics to say the odds of someone being contagious in a large group is more likely than in a small group, but also there are more respiratory droplets being emitted into the space when more people are present.