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disease, chronic respiratory disease or cancer, are not so lucky and are more likely to develop serious illness needing medical interventions. The spread of infection is also known as ‘The Chain of Infection’ and like all chains by breaking a link we can prevent infection spreading. The links in the chain are known as: l The organism – the bacteria, virus or fungi. l The reservoir – a reservoir can be environmental, such as the workplace setting, the water supply or in a living organism such as a rodent or bird. Humans are the only reservoir for many human pathogens. l Portal of exit - how the organism leaves the reservoir. It could leave in faeces, blood, mucus, in contaminated water or in the bloody meal of an insect. l Transmission – how the organism is transmitted from one host to the next host. l Portal of Entry - how the organism enters the body. l Vulnerable Host - commonly the most vulnerable are the very young, the elderly and people with a suppressed immune system. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) can be spread by both direct and indirect transmission. This virus is primarily spread via respiratory droplets from an infected individual being transmitted to another person during coughing and sneezing but also happens during breathing and talking and this, in turn, can infect them. This is direct transmission. However, the infected droplets can also get on to surfaces and live outside the body for some time, these surfaces are then touched and the virus can be introduced to an uninfected person, generally via their mouth but could be through their eyes or nose, and that is known as in-direct transmission. So relating this to the links in the chain we can see the following: l The organism is COVID-19. l The reservoir is the infected person. l The portal of exit is infected respiratory droplets. l Transmission is either via direct contact coughing, sneezing etc or in-direct living on contaminated surfaces. l Portal of entry is people breathing in the droplets, or touching their mouth, eye or nose. l Vulnerable host – anyone can be infected but vulnerable people mentioned above are most at risk. Breaking a link in this chain will stop the spread of infection, so how do we do that? I n these uncharted times we find ourselves in, how can you be sure you are doing everything you can to keep the children in your care, their families and your staff as safe as possible. Infection prevention and control has always been a critical part of everyday life within a nursery setting to prevent both staff and children contracting and/ or passing on infections and diseases. The biggest risk used to be activities dealing with clinical waste (nappy changing and toileting to you and me) and although this remains a high-risk activity, and staying vigilant is crucial, we have a new and more scary enemy. One that you can’t see, you can’t hear and you can‘t smell. Yet over the past few months we have all heard about it and life has changed dramatically all due to Coronavirus (Covid-19). In order to understand what we need to do to help prevent people becoming ill from this virus we need to understand what it is and how it is transmitted in order to break the chain of infection. Chain of infection Covid-19 is a newly discovered infectious disease and while most people infected will only experience a mild to moderate respiratory illness (similar to seasonal flu), and generally recover without needing specialist medical treatment, some people with underlying medical problems, such as cardiovascular LAURA WEST IS THE CHILDCARE HEALTH AND SAFETY SPECIALIST AT MCW. Infection prevention and control measures COVID-19 80 Teachearlyyears.com