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USA TODAY answers a question you may be wondering: Is coronavirus worse than the flu? USA TODAY

You might be buying or making lots ofhand sanitizerto help protect yourself from the COVID-19 coronavirus, but health care professionals areasking you to do something a lot harder: Stop touching your face.

In addition to properly washing your hands, experts saykeeping your hands away from your eyes, nose and mouth will help protect you from the coronavirus orthe flu and other infections.

Easier said than done.

"Even health experts have trouble not touching their faces!" the Santa Clara County, California Public Health Department posted to Facebook on Thursday.

That followed an article bythe Washington Post pointing out thatSara Cody, the county's public health director, had licked her finger moments after urging the public not to touch their face.

Its just subconscious behavior," infection prevention expertConnie Steed told USA TODAY on Friday.

She said trying to break the habit has taken a big effort for her and her family.

But it's a habit worthbreaking.

Your face contains multiple pathways for infections to easily enter your body, and your hands can be contaminated without you knowing it.

You can clean your hands all day, but as soon as you start touching things again ...the germs on your hands increase, said Steed,the president of theAssociation for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.

Hand washing: You're probably washing your hands wrong and don't even know it

Watch: Boost your immune system by doing these things and fend off coronavirus, flu

If we could only see the germs on our hands, we'd find it a lot easier to keep them away from our face,Steed said.

Reducing how often you touch your face is just part of "common-sense basics" for avoiding all types of illnesses, not just the coronavirus currently causing widespread anxiety.

Because it's a common habit most people do it all the time without realizing it. APIC estimates the average person touches their face23 times per hour, based on a small 2015 study.

It's something we start doing as young kids and most of us never stop, Steed said. Becoming self-aware of the problem is a good place to start.

That's what Verge journalistElizabeth Lopatto tried to do this week asshe attempted to count how often she touched her face in a day.

After a few hours she concluded "I am aborting the mission because I touch my face too often."

How-to guidesare popping upeverywhere.

One common thread: Try your best to do it less, but don't let it ruin your day. As one expert pointed out to the New York Times, stress is bad for your immune system and obsessing over breaking a common habit could create its own problems.

According Steed, there are a few simple things that may help:

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Health officials say not to touch your face. That's harder than it sounds even for them. - USA TODAY

This entry was posted on March 9, 2020 at 3:48 am and is filed under Immune System. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |