Washing one’s hands is among the most effective ways of reducing the spread of infections.
Deeper dive
In health care settings, those providing services wash their hands less than they should, which contributes to the spread of disease in hospitals where patients are already sick. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, studies showed that only about half of people working in a hospital washed their hands, resulting in patients getting an infection. But post the pandemic, hyper awareness of washing hands resulted in health care staff using hand sanitizers four times more often than they did before the pandemic, according to the December 2020 Journal of Primary Care Community Health.
The CDC recommends health care providers use an alcohol-based sanitizer on their hands immediately prior to touching a patient and to wash their hands with soap and water if their hands are visibly soiled. The agency also recommends using sanitizer before handling medical equipment, before moving from work on a soiled body site to a clean site on the body, after touching a patient’s immediate environment and after removing gloves. They also say providers should wash their hands with soap and water after touching a patient with diarrhea or suspected exposure to a spore, like c. difficile.
In non-clinical settings, the CDC recommends everyone wash their hands at certain times to prevent disease. They recommend doing so before, during and after preparing food, before eating, before and after caring for someone who is sick, before and after treating a wound, after using the toilet, after changing a diaper, after blowing your nose, or coughing, after touching a pet and after handling garbage. Proper hand washing includes wetting the hands, putting on soap, and scrubbing hands for at least 20 seconds, rinsing hands, and then drying them with a clean towel or letting them air.
For preventing COVID-19, if soap and water aren’t available, the Food and Drug Administration recommends using hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol.