Yep, as always context matters. Have you been doing something that puts stuff on you hands that is no already spread everywhere you are and will touch or for some reason has caused a significantly higher concentration on your hands versus the environment?
As the OP points out, after washing actions matter too. But it more than merely the act of drying your hands.
Last, to some extent your hands are well prepared to deal with a lot of stuff—that is exactly what our skin evolved to too: protect our internals from the external. So a good part of the hygiene is also about just where you put your hands on your own body. Rub your eyes a lot? Perhaps better than washing would be using a clean tissue, then throw it away. Byte your fingernails, or stick you fingers, hands on/in you mouth a lot? Stop or be aware of what you’ve been touching since the last cleaning (were you just cutting up the raw chicken that you will cook for dinner?)
Have you been doing something that puts stuff on you hands that is no already spread everywhere you are and will touch or for some reason has caused a significantly higher concentration on your hands versus the environment?
Don’t think so.
Bite your fingernails, or stick you fingers, hands on/in you mouth a lot? Stop or be aware of what you’ve been touching since the last cleaning.
That’s not at all practical, though. Changing a habit such as biting fingernails is extremely difficult, and definitely not worth it to reduce the risk of getting a virus.
Bite your fingernails, or stick you fingers, hands on/in you mouth a lot? Stop or be aware of what you’ve been touching since the last cleaning.
That’s not at all practical, though. Changing a habit such as biting fingernails is extremely difficult, and definitely not worth it to reduce the risk of getting a virus.
I was pretty surprised to see “definitely” here. If it significantly reduced your risk of getting a serious respiratory infection I’d expect it to be worth the effort.
Well, the “you” in the first bit was the universal “you” not Sil ver specifically. I think we’re in agreement that thinking about the underlying risks and the benefits matter regarding the “wash your hands”—but that is also a rather low cost prevention. But the point, which I think you were making and I was supporting, was that the policy should be understood in the contexts of what the underlying risk is and what risks the policy solution can actually address.
That type of question, is it worth it, seems to be more applicable to the get a mask, and particularly one of the type we always see in the media. It is my impression that the experience from SARS was that the direct contact was the largely transmission mechanism and hands are the primary vehicle that moved the virus to an entry point (mouth, eye).
I agree that habits can be very hard to break—reinventing ourselves is hard. That said, being aware of our habits and what the implication are just makes some sense in the context of getting less wrong I would suggest. Again, it gets back to the context. Are you in a situation where paying attention to your habits makes a difference? If so make an effort at least on some habit hiatus or take the extra steps of washing/sanitizing your hands, in the case of biting fingernails.
Yep, as always context matters. Have you been doing something that puts stuff on you hands that is no already spread everywhere you are and will touch or for some reason has caused a significantly higher concentration on your hands versus the environment?
As the OP points out, after washing actions matter too. But it more than merely the act of drying your hands.
Last, to some extent your hands are well prepared to deal with a lot of stuff—that is exactly what our skin evolved to too: protect our internals from the external. So a good part of the hygiene is also about just where you put your hands on your own body. Rub your eyes a lot? Perhaps better than washing would be using a clean tissue, then throw it away. Byte your fingernails, or stick you fingers, hands on/in you mouth a lot? Stop or be aware of what you’ve been touching since the last cleaning (were you just cutting up the raw chicken that you will cook for dinner?)
Don’t think so.
That’s not at all practical, though. Changing a habit such as biting fingernails is extremely difficult, and definitely not worth it to reduce the risk of getting a virus.
I was pretty surprised to see “definitely” here. If it significantly reduced your risk of getting a serious respiratory infection I’d expect it to be worth the effort.
Well, the “you” in the first bit was the universal “you” not Sil ver specifically. I think we’re in agreement that thinking about the underlying risks and the benefits matter regarding the “wash your hands”—but that is also a rather low cost prevention. But the point, which I think you were making and I was supporting, was that the policy should be understood in the contexts of what the underlying risk is and what risks the policy solution can actually address.
That type of question, is it worth it, seems to be more applicable to the get a mask, and particularly one of the type we always see in the media. It is my impression that the experience from SARS was that the direct contact was the largely transmission mechanism and hands are the primary vehicle that moved the virus to an entry point (mouth, eye).
I agree that habits can be very hard to break—reinventing ourselves is hard. That said, being aware of our habits and what the implication are just makes some sense in the context of getting less wrong I would suggest. Again, it gets back to the context. Are you in a situation where paying attention to your habits makes a difference? If so make an effort at least on some habit hiatus or take the extra steps of washing/sanitizing your hands, in the case of biting fingernails.