A major defense against germs and viruses is proper hand washing. However, the majority of us fail horribly at what should be a simple task. I know I need to make a lot of effort to get this right.
Hand Washing
This video shows a school teacher using a harmless luminescent powder in a classroom. You can see how easily the powder is transferred to a person’s face. Even when you think you have thoroughly washed your hands or thought you were careful, you still end up with powder on your face.
Here is a similar video about protecting yourself from poison ivy. The concept is similar and the underlying premise is similar. We simply do a lousy job of washing our hands.
Removal of gloves
Another issue is how to remove gloves that might be contaminated. If you wore gloves but are careless removing them, then you can still end up contaminating yourself. Below is one example of removing gloves carefully. Look for other examples.
Clothing and shoes
The same concept applies to clothing and shoes. If you are really concerned, you might want to go right to your washing machine, strip off your clothes and throw them in the wash. Then you need to wash your hands or better yet, take a good shower. Don’t forget your shoes if you have been out in public. The soles probably picked up all kinds of stuff.
How does that happen? Someone sneezes a couple of minutes before you walk by. The virus infested droplets settle to the floor. Now you walk by and pick them up on the soles of your shoes. If you get home and walk through your house, you are possibly tracking virus particles through your house.
Learning to properly wash your hands and spending the time to do so is far better than spending time recovering from a nasty virus.