A nurse is assisting with the admission of a child who has pertussis. Which of the following actions should the nurse take?

A. Initiate droplet precautions. Pertussis (whooping cough) is transmitted via respiratory droplets. Droplet precautions are necessary to prevent the spread of the disease through coughs or sneezes. B. Initiate a protective environment. A protective environment is used for patients with severe immunocompromised conditions to protect them from infections, not to prevent the spread of respiratory infections like pertussis. C. Initiate contact precautions. Contact precautions are used for infections spread by direct or indirect contact with the patient or their environment, such as MRSA. Pertussis is spread by droplets, not by contact. D. Initiate airborne precautions. Airborne precautions are for diseases that are spread through airborne particles, such as tuberculosis or measles. Pertussis is not airborne but spread through larger respiratory droplets.