10 Ways Couples Can Show Leadership During The Covid – 19 Pandemic

The number of deaths is still rising. People are still dying, being killed by the coronavirus. While it’s being managed in some states or nations such as the European Union, it’s increasing in death counts in the United States of America that has seen over 126.000 recorded deaths, and Brazil that has over 50.000 recorded deaths. There are other nations that have a very high potential of a rebound within the next few months or weeks. The reason is that people are letting down their guard because they think that the lockdown had been eased somewhat.

We’ve written the 10 Ways Couples Can Show Leadership During The Covid-19 Pandemic to help couples manage the crisis. The ease of the lockdown isn’t the end of the struggle nor a cure to the covid-19 infection. In fact, in some regions, the “too fast” easing of the lockdown has proven to be a public health menace. Because many people are flouting the same rules set to save the public. They don’t wear masks. They don’t do social distancing. They don’t wash their hands or use hand sanitizers as they should.

Only You Can

Nobody can care enough for you if you are careless about you, about yourself, about your safety. If you show no responsibility to follow the guidelines for protection, I’m sorry, no one would do that for you. I understand how uncomfortable it can be during this covid-19 pandemic. You never planned for it and nobody did. But when something drastic happens, it calls for drastic measures to contain it. And part of the measure is you. You are part of the solution to the covid-19 crisis who can’t afford to stay without action or quiet as if nothing was happening. You’ve got to do something.

What should you do, then? Look at these “10 Ways Couples Can Show Leadership During The Covid-19 Pandemic” to help you lead.

1. Understand your leadership abilities and use them at home within the family.

This is the time to realize that everyone is a leader who leads within their own sphere of influence. You lead not only with your gifts and talents but within the place you find yourself. At home, for example, couples should manifest the spirit of leadership to lead by example and help counsel others to follow suit.

2. Make public safety your priority.

As far as health issues are concerned, we are all interconnected. Things like diseases don’t discriminate between people who get sick and not. It doesn’t at all. When it comes, it can affect everyone, whether you’re rich or poor, innocent or not. Only those who take good precautions can be free from its effects.

This goes down to say whenever you think about your safety, you’re thinking about the safety of others as well. If you protect yourself, you might not be able to infect other people or/and you might not contract the disease itself. So just one action you take goes both ways for good. This is how you should think about public safety. Make it your priority as leaders.

3. Wash hands often.

Like the point above, the washing of hands is also crucial in the fight against the covid-19 disease. It’s believed that the washing of hands kills germs of all sorts from the hands so that they can’t infect you with a disease. Germs are microorganisms that cause disease or sickness. The hands are easy locations for germs as we touch things here and there. But the constant washing of our hands helps greatly to reduce the spread of the virus, hence the covid-19 spread.

4. Encourage others to wash their hands too.

You couples, as leaders, can also help others to wash their hands by :

a) telling them to do so. You can counsel them on this topic and expose the dangers of not doing.

b) washing yours in the full view of others. This buttresses your teaching to them. It’s said that action speaks louder than words.

c) encouraging them to wash their hands by providing the means for them to do so. Not everyone is capable of buying necessities of life, even soap and water could be a luxury for some people. I know that might come as a surprise to you but it’s the reality.

Clean water is not within the reach of everyone in the community. So to help them, if you can, with the finance for projects like procuring clean water, boreholes, water containers, or buckets and soaps, for the community to use for frequent handwashing, will go a long way to fight the crisis.

Also, instruct them on how to use whatever you provided, and the location to place the containers and soaps to be easily accessed by all. The house gates or entrances, shop entrances, and entrances to public places are of priority here so they can wash hands before they touch anything within the vicinity. All of the above ways are signs of leadership and can help them reduce the spread.

5. Encourage people to use hand sanitizers

This you do by:

a) telling them and instructing them on its importance and on how it’s used. Knowledge is always powerful

b) also using them yourself reinforces your teaching. It’s always good to walk the talk, you know. What they see is easy to emulate than what they just heard.

c) by providing the means for others to do so within your vicinity. When we talk about “providing the means”, we mean financially, if they don’t have the means. This only applies if you are capable of doing so. But please, you’re not obligated or coerced to do so. It should be done willingly out of volition. And the location where hand sanitizers can be placed is usually at the entrances or gates of homes and shops and other spaces used by the public owned by you or under your influence. It could be your shop, business, office, etc.

6. Wear a face mask in public spaces.

This is very simple and has been spoken of quite often. You may have been doing it and seeing others do it, or hearing others talk about it. The wearing of face masks has been recommended by medical authorities and governments of nations across the world. They couldn’t have if it weren’t essential as an act to help prevent the spread of covid-19. Show true leadership and wear one on. If you don’t wear face masks, you could be putting others at risk without you knowing. In addition, by wearing one, it can be very easy for you to advise others to do the same.

7. Encourage others to wear face masks.

As a leader within your own sphere of influence, you can encourage others around you to wear face masks by

a) telling them about it and its advantages and disadvantages for not wearing it.

b) helping them understand how to wear it. I mean practically demonstrate how it’s worn before them. Some of them just think that having it on is okay. So they put it below the chin, at the forehead, on the mouth only, or have it hanging from one ear. Show them the proper way to put it on.

c) helping them buy one if they can’t afford it. Some cheerful givers can buy some and give them out for free to the poor around them just to help protect their community. If you can, alright. And if you can’t, no one is forcing you to.

8. Encourage them to adopt the practice of social distancing when they are in public spaces.

This basically means to stay at least six feet from the next person standing beside you. This helps avoid catching the exhaled droplets of the person next to you in case the person is infected. Practicals would reinforce the theory–your talking to them.

9. Be Careful to follow the good advice of the local authorities and not let down your personal guard because they did theirs.

The time is perilous and individuals must take personal responsibility for their safety by doing what’s right, good, and helpful to all, and not what is personal and endangers the lives of others and public health safety. I said this because some political leaders are politizing the covid-19 saga which shouldn’t be the case. Some leaders make it look as if the virus is over when it’s not. They do so just to massage their political egos.

10. Prioritize your health safety over leisure.

This means that you may cancel foreign trips like vacations or postpone them for another time. We understand that leisure is good but not important. Your health is important and nobody can guarantee that to you than yourself by what you do. The greatest vacation is to have peace of mind which is lacking at this moment that covid-19 is still a mystery to many.

You never know the place you might visit, whether it was contaminated or not, whether someone else who’s infected might be there or not. You just never know as far as the pandemic has no cure yet and is still killing people, precaution, precaution, precaution, should be a high priority in every decision-making. I would rather say you prepare for a leisure vacation later by protecting your health now.

We’ve just covered the 10 Ways Couples Can Show Leadership During The Covid – 19 Pandemic and believed that it would help you lead better in the face of the crisis. Tell us what you’re doing to help reduce the covid-19 spread?

To continue reading, click here for part one click here

Written for smartcouples.net

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