1. Wash your hands. Hand washing works. Even if people come into contact with the virus, they can avoid becoming infected by washing their hands before touching their face. But do it right. “Hands should be scrubbed for at least 20 seconds, the time it takes to sing the ‘Happy Birthday’ song twice, to ensure germs won’t be transferred to objects or spread from person to person,” Liz Mineo of The Harvard Gazette writes. Hand sanitizers help too, but soap is usually more reliable.

2. Try to touch your face less. It’s virtually impossible not to touch your face, I realize. I’ve been trying. But you can touch it less often. Be aware of when you’ve just touched surfaces that might infect you (like doorknobs in busy places) and don’t touch your face until you’ve washed your hands. There are strategies — like keeping tissues handy and keeping your hands busy, as Jenny Gross of The Times writes — for touching your face less.

3. Keep your distance. It’s not easy, but try to stay at least six feet away from other people when you’re at work or in public. And don’t shake hands. Your hands are brutally efficient disease vectors. When family members came over to my house this weekend, they greeted us with a little bow. It was a nice touch — a small welcoming ritual that reduced the awkwardness of saying hello without a hug or handshake.

4. Be more aggressive about staying home if you feel sick. You probably don’t have coronavirus (though, of course, you can’t be sure), but you could spread your cold and make it more severe. The Washington Post’s Marisa Iati explains: “If everyone with a cold floods their local emergency rooms, it will be harder for health care workers to treat patients who are critically ill. Plus, you could pick up the virus in the hospital if you don’t already have it.”

5. Don’t stockpile masks. They’re needed for hospital workers and other caregivers. “Masks are only useful if you have a respiratory infection already and want to minimize the risk of spread to others, or if you’re caring for someone who is sick or working in a hospital in direct contact with people who have respiratory illnesses,” writes Julia Belluz of Vox.