GRAND RAPIDS, mich. — Health experts are reminding about the importance of proper hand washing to prevent the spread of viruses.
“This time of year there’s a lot of viruses and other bacteria going around. The safest, most effective and cheapest method there is to clean your hands frequently and thoroughly and to avoid touching your face,” Infection Prevention Expert Mary Faber, RN said.
“Effective hand hygiene is important, just running under water doesn’t really help,” Faber added.
Though common knowledge, Faber says most people are not washing their hands properly.
“If you’re going to wash your hands with soap and water you have to give the soap time to do what it’s supposed to do, which is mix with the oils on the skin, lift them up off the skin, it’s in the oils where the pathogens reside, so you need to lift them up off the skin and then rinse them off. But that does take some time, and friction helps,” she explained.
“A good 20 seconds minimum is a good hand wash,” she added.
“Hand hygiene is great, cover your cough, clean your hands a lot, don’t touch your face. Those are the keys.”
