COVID-19 virus – Information for home and workplaces

COVID-19 virus – Information for home and workplaces

by | Mar 26, 2020 | Business, Tips

What is it?

COVID-19 is a coronavirus. Human coronaviruses cause mild illness generally, such as the common cold. COVID-19 is a new strain previously unidentified in humans and first identified in China. It has since been spreading in several other countries and is closely related to a bat coronavirus.

How is the virus spread?

COVID-19 is spread from one infected with the virus to another after close contact. It is spread by contaminated droplets from coughing or sneezing as well as by contact with contaminated hands, objects or surfaces.
5 to 6 days is typically the time when symptoms appear after exposure to a person with the virus, however, this can vary from 2 to 14 days. This is the reason we are asked to self-isolate for 14 days if you might have been in contact with a confirmed case. A few people may have been infectious before symptoms developed but most COVID-19 cases appear to be spread from people who have the symptoms. As we all know, new outbreaks of infections are a great public health concern which is rapidly evolving.

COVID-19 on surfaces

According to the World Health Organisation, COVID-19 appears to behave in the same way as other coronaviruses and it’s not certain how long it survives on surfaces. It could be a few hours or several days, studies suggest. This could vary depending on the temperature or humidity and other conditions like the type of surface.

For surfaces suspected to be infected:

Clean the surface with a disinfectant. This will kill the virus as well as protect yourself and others.
Wash your hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based sanitiser.
Avoid touching your mouth, nose or eyes.

Symptoms of COVID-19

Patients may have any or all symptoms of the virus including fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, runny nose and others. In a more sever case, infection can cause pneumonia with severe acute respiratory distress.

Difference between the flu and COVID-19

Infections of influenza and COVID-19 often have very similar first symptoms. Both can range from mild to severe fever and respiratory symptoms and both can sometimes be fatal.

Both viruses can also be transmitted in the same way. This is by coughing or sneezing, contact with surfaces or objects contaminated with the virus or by contact with hands.

Good hygiene eg hand washing and good household cleaning should be undertaken to prevent both infections along with good respiratory etiquette for example coughing into your elbow or into a dissue and disposing of it immediately.

The flu has a shorter time from infection until symptoms appear meaning the flu can spread faster than COVID-19. Most people have mild symptoms while severe and critical COVID-19 infections are higher than for flu infections.

How long does the COVID-19 infection last?

The period of infection varies from person to person. In an otherwise healthy person, mild symptoms may resolve in a few days. Thos with other ongoing health issues recovery can take weeks or in severe cases even be fatal, similar to influenza.

Returning from another country

If you have returned from overseas in the last 14 days, you should isolate yourself from others. This isolation should be for 14 days from the day you arrived and you should monitor yourself for symptoms.

What if I come into contact with a confirmed case of COVID-19

If you have been in contact with a person who has been confirmed with COVID-19 infection, you need to isolate at home for 14 days after contact with the infected persion. You should report any symptoms and continue to monitor your health.

A close contact is generally somone who has been face to face for at least 15 minutes, or in the same closed space for at least 2 hours with an infectious person. As a precaution if your contact was less than this you should still monitor your health until 14 days after the last exposure to the infected person.
If symptoms develop including a fever and/or respiratory signs, call ahead to talk with a doctor or call healthdirect on 1800 022 222.

For more information about isolation in the home for people suspected or confirmed to have COVID-19, see the Health NSW website.

 

Close contacts and recently returned travellers

 

Advice and guidance for NSW workplaces see Safe Work Australia

 

Information for small business owners

 

How is COVID-19 diagnosed?

Diagnosis is performed by finding evidence of the virus in respiratory samples taken from swabs from the back of the nose and throat or fluid from the lungs. Testing can be taken directly by GPs or private pathology sites that are suitable for collection of COVID-19, or at public hospitals across NSW.

Refer to COVID-19 clinics for locations of NSW Health COVID-19/flu assessment clinics.

Is there a cure or vaccine?

There are no vaccines that protect against COVID-19 and there is no specific treatment. Early diagnosis and general supportive care are important. Symptoms will resolve on their own most of the time. People who have serious disease with complications can be cared for in hospital.

How is the virus prevented?

To significantly reduce the risk of being infected with COVID-19 and of spreading it:

  • Clean your hands often for at least 20 seconds with soap and water, or use an alcohol-based hand rub/sanitiser
  • Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. Otherwise use your elbow, not your hands
  • Avoid close contact with people who have cold or flu-like symptoms
  • Stay home if you have these symptoms
  • Clean surfaces or objects like tables or doorknobs with a common household disinfectant
  • Generally, avoid touching your eyes, mouth or nose
  • Avoid shaking hands with others
  • Try to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres from others
  • Avoid crowded places

 

This article has been written in plain english for information purposes only.  Please see our Disclaimer regarding content published on this site.

 

Write Better Content Using Plain English

Write Better Content Using Plain English

by | Mar 1, 2020 | Content, Web Copy, Writing for the Web

Writing is always about the reader, not the writer.  On the web espeically because people have a limited attention span and don’t want to  hang around generally.

You need to understand who your reader is and what they want.  Then clearly and concisely write in a way that speaks to them.  This is what plain English is all about.

Plain English is also easier to read and faster to write.  Most importantly, you’re way more likely to get your message across.  This is a win/win so how do you get it done?

 

1. Keep sentences short

It’s much easier to read short sentences.  It’s that simple.  Aim for around 20 words but your writing also needs to flow.  If your paragraph reads better and the meaning is clearer, the occasional longer sentence is fine.

Although some concepts are harder to explian than others, most sentences can be shortened in some way or another.
Keep it short and find your rhythm!

 

2. Use the active voice

To make your sentences direct and easy to read, use active verbs.  Sentences can be confusing, ambiguous and boring using passive verbs.

Using active verbs pieces sentences together in a specific way.

The dog (subject) jumped over (verb) the log (object).

The subject before the verb allows the reader to know what the subject (the dog) is doing (jumping over) before we mention where (the log).

Using passive voice, ‘the log was jumped over by the dog’ makes the sentence clunky.  If we said it out loud, this is not how we’d describe it.

We typically talk in the active voice.  Extra words are also requried for the passive version to make sense.  Making your passive verbs active reduces your word count every time.

Having said that you shouldn’t always avoid the passive voice.  Sometimes it might sound better or be more appropriate if you don’t know who or what the subject of a sentence is.

Mostly though, active verbs make your writing conversational, clearer and more engaging.

 

3. Use I, we and you

When you’re writing on behalf of an organisation, say ‘We do this…’ or ‘Our product does that…’ Speak directly and don’t refer to your readers as ‘customers’, ‘users’ or your ‘audience’.

Pronouns allow you to focus on the reader while sounding more helpful, human and friendly so be conversational.

 

4. Write for your reader

Use words that make sense to your reader.  Avoid jargon and use everyday language.  Sometimes jargon is ok if it fits the context and makes sense.

Using plain English is not dumbing down, it’s just finding the simplest way to communicate.

Know your audience, plan ahead and make no assumptions.  Learn about your reader, know your message and use words they’ll understand.

 

5. Give instructions

Your content should help people do things and go where they want to go.  Write short, direct instructions if you want your reader to take action.

F‍or example, don’t say ‘The document should be downloaded’ instead say ‘Download the document’

‍Don’t say ‘Applicants are advised to read the job profile’ However,  ‘Read the job profile’ is fine.

 

6. Avoid nominalisation

Using verbs means fewer words and are more direct which leads to more engaging and interesting sentences.  They are more active!

Some nominalisation examples:

‍’On completion of the task’
‘We had a discussion’
‘He made a suggestion’

Using the verb, this is how they read instead:

‍’When the task is complete’
‘We discussed’
‘He suggested’

 

7. Use headings and lists

Using headings and lists is a staple of plain English and a classic piece of advice for web copy.

Lists and headings split information, break up a page and make everthing easier to scan and read.

The headings should be meaningful and all about context.  A good heading tells the reader what they’ll learn or find in the copy below.

For presenting complex or multiple pieces of inforamtion, lists are great.  Include one point or idea per bullet and only use numbered lists if there’s a specific order to the items.

Try to avoid multiple lists on a single web page as this can be as tricky to scan as no lists.

Be consistent by picking one way of writing lists and stick to that.  If style guides are available from your clients, use these for your list style.  If not, set the standard to show them the way.

 

8. Write accessible hyperlinks

You’re links should mean something by telling the reader where they’ll go when they click on them.  Especially because screen readers are often used to browse the internet by people with limited sight.

A screen reader device will pull up a list of links on a webpage and read them back in audio form.  If your links simply say ‘read more’ or ‘click here’, the links have no meaning and the listener will have no idea where they lead.

‍Don’t say ‘Check out my blog post’
‍Do say ‘Read my article about writing accessible links’

Apart from accessibility issues, when your links are written clearly it helps the reader get from one place to another.

This allows them to scan a page, see the links and make a quick decision.  Ambiguous links will not help them do that and will only cause frustration.

Writing Content for Australian Government Websites

Writing Content for Australian Government Websites

by | Mar 1, 2020 | Content, Technology, Writing for the Web

Before writing content, plan the structure

Understand the user’s needs before writing content and structure the copy around meeting those needs first.  After that you can meet requirements around mandated information.

You should design content to give the user only the information they need to complete the service and lead the user to the information they need.

 

Accessibility and inclusivity

Writing content for audience diversity

  • Understand the diversity of your audience.  Write content that all users can read and understand
  • Australia is one of the most culturally diverse countries
  • Expectations and abilities of Australians vary and our population is ageing
  • Use inclusive language and terms.  This will avoid discriminatory language that may treat some people differently to others.

For example:

  • Use worker instead of workman or business manager/business person — instead of businesswoman or businessman.
  • People with disability — not disabled, handicapped people or people with a disability
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ or First Australians — Aboriginals, Aborigines or ATSI

Speak to the person, not their difference in order to be respectful of:

  • disability
  • cultural differences
  • socioeconomic background
  • educational levels
  • generational differences
  • gender roles
  • political impacts on life events
  • religious affiliations
  • transgender people
  • intersex people

Writing content in languages other than English

Identify the right languages by research with users to know which languages they need to read the information in.  This can be important if there are compliance requirements or health and safety issues and note that plain English is easier to translate.

 

Types of content

  • Document Formats – Make all formats accessible, for example, PDFs are not accessible on mobile devices, but if they’re required:

Structure PDFs logically

Make it clear the file you’re linking to is a PDF file

Offer an alternative format to PDF

  • Hyperlinks – create clear links where users need them.  Also skip links should be added to navigation and content so users easily know where they need to go for the information they want
  • Images and Alt Text – only use images if they are useful to the text content.  Choose relevant and clear images that are not culturally insensitive to any audience.  All images must have alternative text to describe the function or information of the image
  • Video accessibility – Always include transcripts for those who don’t want to watch the video and also for search engine indexing.  Closed captions should be included for people who can’t hear the sounds and dialgue as well as audio description for people who cant see the video.  This will explain any visual-only detail that’s important

Acronyms and initialisms when writing content

Only use an initialism or acronym when referring to a term more than once and it will make content easier to understand.

When writing acronyms or initialisms, write the term in full the first time it’s used followed by the acronym or initialism in parentheses then use the initialism or acronym only in subsequent mentions.

These tips are just a few of the standards you need to consider when writing web content for Australian Government departments.  A comprehensive guide to help Australian Government teams design simple, clear and fast content can be found on the Australian Government Digital Guides website.

Digital Service Standard criteria

To successfully apply the Digital Service Standard, government agencies must meet 13 criteria that helps agencies to design and deliver simple, clear and fast services.

The criteria

  • Research to develop a knowledge of users and why they’re using the service to understand their needs
  • Have a multidisiplinary team to build, operate, design and iterate the service led by an experienced manager with responsibility for decision-making
  • The service design and delivery process should take a user-centred and agile approach to design and build the service
  • Understand the systems and tools needed to host, build, operate and measure the service and how to adapt, adopt or procure them
  • Make it secure by putting appropriate privacy, legal and security measures in place after identifying the information and data the service will create or use
  • Use the style guide for digital content using common design patterns  to build the service with responsive and consistent design methods
  • Use common government platforms and open standards where appropriate
  • All new source code should be made open by default
  • Make sure the service is inlusive and accessible for all users regardless of their environment or ability
  • Replicate the live version in a test environment and test the service from end to end
  • Measure KPIs according to the guides and report on the public dashboard to measure performance
  • Ensure people using the digial service can also use other channels if required without confusion or repition
  • Consolidate or phase out alternative existing channels where appropriate by encouraging users to choose the digital option

For more information about writing content see our article Write Better Content Using Plain English