5 Mistakes That Can Be Sabotage Your Hand-Washing Efforts

As there is no medicine to treat COVID-19 yet, the best way to reduce its risk is to follow preventative measures. Hand-washing is the best preventive measure along with wearing a mask, disinfecting highly-touch surfaces, and maintaining a social distance, etc. The CDC has recommended everyone to wash their hands for at least 20 seconds with soap and water to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Hand washing is a simple technique to prevent COVID-19. However, some mistakes can sabotage your hand-washing. So if you want to reduce the risk of COVID-19, everyone needs to avoid these mistakes:

1. You don’t use soap – Cleaning your hands only with water, is not enough. Take a generous amount of soap and water (whether warm or cold) to wash your hands properly. Lather up the soap well to remove the dirt, grease, and microbes.

2. You don’t scrub your entire hand ­–Washing your hands properly is important to prevent COVID19. So don’t forget to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and especially under your nails. Also, we recommend you to keep your nails short to reduce the gunk that can get trapped under your nails.

3. You don’t wash long enough – Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds to get the germs off. To be sure that you’ve washed your hands for 20 seconds, you can sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice.

Key time when you must wash your hands:  

• After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing
• After using the toilet
• Before and after caring for someone at home who is COVID-19 patient or sick with vomiting or diarrhea
• After changing diapers and cleaning up a child
• Before, during, and after preparing food
• Before eating food
• Before and after treating a wound
• After touching an animal, animal waste, or animal feed
• After handling pet food or pet treats
• After touching garbage

4. You don’t rinse your hands thoroughly – After proper scrubbing, you must rinse your hands well with water. This will remove soap and germs from your hands. It will also lessen any irritation to your skin that can happen due to soap.

5. You skip drying your hands – Germs transfer more easily to and from wet hands, so don’t forget to dry your hands. Take a clean towel and use it to dry your hands. Ensure to wash them from time-to-time. However, if you’re in a public place, use paper towels instead of an electric dryer to dry your hands.

We know it’s important to wash hands – more than ever, but what if soap and water are not available? You can use a hand sanitizer in such a situation.

It’s amazing how complicated hand-washing can be, but it’s also incredible how life-saving this simple task can be. Stay safe everyone!