The COVID-19 vaccine is out, and a good part of the population has received their doses. However, that doesn’t mean you stop staying safe by washing hands, maintaining social distance, and wearing a face mask. As of now, prevention is one of the best ways to survive the pandemic. One of the essential things to help prevent the spread of the virus is washing your hands and sanitizing.
When we talk of handwashing, this isn’t the regular five or ten seconds wash, and you get along with your business. However, getting rid of the virus takes more than that. So could you be doing it all wrong? Could you be sabotaging your handwashing efforts? Let’s take a look at some of the things that might be hindering effective handwashing.
You aren’t using soap – when washing your hands, wet your hands with warm or cold water, then apply soap. Be generous with soap as one tends to wash thoroughly when using a lot of soap. Use a quarter-size amount of liquid soap, and it doesn’t have to be antibacterial. Lather up to help create friction to lift the grease, dirt, and microbes from your hands.
The 20 seconds rule – to prevent the spread of the virus, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. This is the time it takes to remove most of the germs and microbes from your hands. Lather up soap to create friction to remove dirt, germs, and microbes. Twenty seconds isn’t the maximum amount of time. You can go up to 30 seconds and dry for another 15 seconds. Dry your hands thoroughly as well. Take time to dry your hands with a clean towel as germs transfer easily to and from the wet hands.
Use running water – using a basin of standing water recontaminates your hands with some of the germs you have washed off. Use clean running water to get rid of the germs and wash them away to avoid recontamination.
Rinse thoroughly – after cleaning and scrubbing your hands, rinse with clean running water. This gets rid of all the germs and dirt lifted from your hands. Removing the soap also reduces the chances of skin irritation on your skin. Make sure to rinse with clean running water to wash away the soap, dirt, or germs.
Handwashing can be complicated, but it has to be done the right way for it to be effective.
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