How To Wash Your Hands
It seems it’s important that we remind ourselves how health experts say we should be washing our hands. With all the craziness going on around news sites and social media, a lot of us are pretty hyped up and a little scared about the coronavirus. First, know that you shouldn’t be. The illness is rapidly spreading, that’s true and scary. But, the disease is NOT as dangerous and deadly as other news sites are trying to make it out to be. In fact, only 3% of the more than 800,000 confirmed global diagnoses have died. Ultimately, those who have died were the elderly or people who had a predisposition to other health issues.
So why do we need to learn to wash our hands? Again, coronavirus IS concerning merely for the fact of how quickly it’s spreading. There is some concern there. So in order to best protect ourselves, we need to remind ourselves to stay as cleanly as possible. So, again, here’s what the experts think.
The WHO
According to the World Health Organization, “Hand hygiene, either with soap and water or with alcohol-based handrub, is one of the best ways to avoid getting sick and spreading infections to others. Indeed, hand hygiene is an easy, inexpensive, and effective mean to prevent the spread of germs and keep everyone healthy.”
As for the actual process, the WHO suggests counting to 10 for every step of washing your hands. That means 10 seconds for applying enough soap to cover all of your hands, rubbing the soap from palm to palm, then rubbing the back of your palms, rubbing the front of your palms, and rubbing the back of your fingers, then rubbing your thumbs, and finally rubbing the tops of your fingers. Watch the video below for a visual display of these directions.
- BEFORE, DURING and AFTER preparing food.
- BEFORE eating food.
- BEFORE and AFTER caring for a sick person.
- AFTER using the toilet.
- AFTER changing the diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet.
- AFTER blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing.
- AFTER touching animals, animal feed, or animal waste.
- AFTER touching garbage.
The CDC
The Center of Disease Control and Prevention says the same thing about when you should be washing your hands. But as for the process of washing your hands, the CDC says the below.
“Follow these five steps every time.
- Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
- Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
- Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice.
- Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
- Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.”
Stay safe, men!
