According to one study, people touch their face about 23 times an hour. From now on, we all need to make a conscious effort to keep our hands below shoulder level at all time, this could make a very large difference to the transmission of the coronavirus
Why not the face?
The eyes, nose and mouth, are the key gateways for bacteria and viruses to enter our bodies which include, of course, the coronavirus.
We all touch our face regularly and we often do it without noticing. Studies have shown that we are particularly prone to touching our chins. The problem is that if you touch the mucus membranes in your nostrils, mouth or eyes after touching an infected surface or an object, you can become infected.
“If you never touched your face, it wouldn’t matter if you didn’t wash your hands. Your hands could be as dirty or as contaminated as you like,” says Robert West, a professor of health psychology at University College London.
That is why we need to start tackling face touching -something that has not been talked about as much compared to hand washing and the use of hand sanitiser.
If you want to limit the spread of Coronavirus, then keep your hands below your shoulders and…what else?
Besides washing our hands with soap for 20 secs, avoid large crowds, and practice social distancing, we need to start getting it into our heads that face touching isn’t an appropriate thing to do, especially in public. This is clearly a behaviour that makes us prone to infecting ourselves with disease by spreading the bacteria and viruses we pick up with our hands when we touch our surrounding environment.
Besides avoid touching our face, it is also a good idea to wash your hands as well as your face thoroughly when you get home from the outside. For those of you who wear glasses, it’s important that you clean your glasses every day as well, they act as a physical barrier to viruses to get into your eyes (that’s why full PPE includes goggles!). In addition, it is recommended to always wash your face FIRST in the shower as the steam will open up all the routes of transmission for the bacteria and viruses that may be on the surface on our face after being outside.
At The Footwork Clinic, Chatswood and Sydney CBD practice, we are all making a conscious effort not to touch our face to minimise the risk of disease transmission. I’m glad to say that we are doing pretty well so far….
Hope that’s helpful. For more great health information or if you’ve got any questions or concerns about your foot and leg health –CLICK HERE to reach out, we are here to help and support the community during this time.
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Yours in Health,
