Get Ready Mailbag: Get the facts on hand-washing

Welcome to another installment of the Get Ready Mailbag, when we take time to answer questions sent our way by readers like you. Have a question you want answered? Send an email to getready@apha.org.

Some senator said that restaurant employees shouldn’t have to wash their hands after using the bathroom. Isn’t that a bad idea?

Yes, definitely! Hand-washing is critical when preparing food, whether at home or at a restaurant.

Before we get into that, though, let’s talk about what that senator said. According to Talking Points Memo, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said businesses should be able to opt out of rules like employee hand-washing, using Starbucks as an example: “I don’t have any problem with Starbucks if they choose to opt out of this policy as long as they post a sign that says ‘We don’t require our employees to wash their hands after leaving the restroom,’” the news site reported Tillis as saying Feb. 2. Tillis later backed down, telling The Hill that the statement was meant as a joke.

Historic 1930s era hand washing sign
CDC/ Minnesota Department of Health

But clean hands are no joking matter. Hand-washing helps prevent the spread of infection when preparing and serving food, according to the Food and Drug Administration. Food service workers who don’t wash their hands properly can make people sick. That’s why food workers are required by law to wash their hands, as you’ve probably noticed when you’ve seen those signs in restaurant bathrooms.

Hand-washing isn’t just important in restaurants, though. Everyone should follow these simple hand-washing steps before preparing food: Wet, lather, scrub, rinse and dry. Be sure to wash your hands for at least 20 seconds, or about as long as it takes to sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice.

Hand-washing is a great way to protect yourself from getting sick. It prevents the spread of infection to family, friends and your community. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention describes hand-washing as a “do-it-yourself” vaccine, because it’s the best way to prevent getting sick or spreading disease to others.

For more information and fact sheets to share on hand-washing, visit the Get Ready hand-washing page.

Healthy tips for healthy hands

It’s time to talk hand hygiene. What’s hand hygiene, you ask? Well, it refers to things you can do — like washing your hands and using hand sanitizer — to keep your hands clean and protect your health.

While hand-washing is important all the time, you should especially wash your hands more often during cold and flu season. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests other important times to wash your hands:

• Before, during and after you prepare food
• Before eating food
• Before and after caring for someone who is sick
• Before and after treating a cut or wound
• After using the toilet
• After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet
• After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
• After touching an animal or animal waste
• After handling pet food or pet treats
• After touching garbage

Some people should wash their hands more frequently. People who get sick more easily, such as seniors or people with weakened immune systems, should clean their hands more often. Children should, too. They like to get close to each other when they play, share toys and often put their hands and other objects in their mouths.

 

It’s important to teach kids to wash their hands and help make it fun. Choose a song your children like, time how long 20 seconds takes and let them sing the song for that amount of time while they wash their hands.

 

So, what is the right way to wash your hands?

• First, wet them with clean water.
• Apply and spread soap over all parts of your hands.
• Rub your soapy hands together for at least 20 seconds.
• Rinse and dry well.

If you can’t wash your hands with water, use a hand sanitizer that has at least 60 percent alcohol. Apply and spread the sanitizer to all parts of your hands and rub your hands together until they are dry.

Be sure to visit the Get Ready campaign’s hand-washing page for great information and materials on hand-washing. Everything on our website can be downloaded free.

The World Health Organization says that, globally, “simple hand-washing could save up to 1 million lives each year.” That’s a very serious number. However, the important thing to remember is that hand-washing is one of the most important things you can do to stay healthy.

 

Washing your hands with cooler water can be better for the environment

Have you ever been told that it’s better to wash your hands with hot water? According to a recent study conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University, using clean running water at a cooler temperature can be just as effective — and it can be better for the environment, too.
 
While it’s true that heat kills bacteria, the temperature needed to kill germs on your hands could burn you. That means that there may be no real benefit to washing your hands with hot water. In fact, using a really high temperature can irritate your skin, which can make bacteria stay on your hands.
 
So why do folks use hot water if it’s not killing germs? One reason is that many hand soaps tend to work better with warmer water. Another reason may be that they’ve always done it that way and just don’t know any better!

 

So how does using cooler water help the environment, you may ask? The fact is that heating water takes energy. Creating energy — such as through burning fossil fuels like such as coal, natural gas and oil — can lead to the release of gases that trap heat in the atmosphere, known as greenhouse gases. Increasing levels of greenhouse gases raise global temperatures leading to climate change.

 

So does that mean you should only use really, really cold water to wash your hands? That might not be a good idea either. It takes awhile to wash your hands properly, and that’s hard to do when the water is freezing cold. Your best bet is to pick a temperature somewhere in the middle that feels comfortable to you.

 

The key thing is to make sure that you’re washing your hands properly. This means that you are scrubbing, rinsing and drying your hands several times a day, particularly before eating and after using the bathroom. Here are some tips, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Wet your hands with running water. Remember to immediately turn off the tap to make sure you’re not wasting water.
• Apply soap and rub your hands together. Make sure to clean the back of your hands, under your nails and between your fingers, and continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds.
• Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
• Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.

For more tips, check out our Get Ready hand-washing page, which features fact sheets in both English and Spanish.

It’s National Hand-Washing Awareness Week — Do you know the right way to wash your hands?

Dec. 1-7 is National Hand-Washing Awareness Week 2013, so let’s talk about hand hygiene. What is hand hygiene? It’s a term we use to describe things you can do, such as hand-washing and using hand sanitizer, to improve the cleanliness of your hands and protect your health. Hand-washing is one of the most important ways you can prevent many infectious diseases, including colds and flu.

 

The World Health Organization states that “simple hand-washing could save up to 1 million lives each year” around the globe. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that you wash your hands:

• 

  Photo courtesy of CDC/Amanda Mills

  before, during and after preparing food;
• before eating food;
• before and after caring for someone who is sick;
• before and after treating a cut or wound;
• after using the toilet;
• after changing diapers or cleaning a child who has used the toilet;
• after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing;
• after touching an animal or animal waste;
• after handling pet food or pet treats; and
• after touching garbage.

Also, it’s a good idea to wash your hands more often during cold and flu season. Have you thought about your hands when you take public transportation, when you go somewhere where there are a lot of people or when people at your work or school are sick?

 

Some people are more at risk for infections, such as seniors or people with immune system problems. It’s even more important that they wash their hands more regularly. Otherwise they can become very sick. And don’t forget kids! Children like to get close to each other when they play. Teach and remind children to wash their hands. Start teaching children hand-washing when they are young and make it fun.

 

The proper way to wash your hands is to wet them with clean water, then apply and spread soap over all parts of your hands. Rub your soapy hands together for at least 20 seconds (sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice in your head), rinse well and dry.

 

If you can’t wash your hands with water, use a hand sanitizer that has at least 60 percent alcohol. Apply and spread the sanitizer to all parts of your hands and rub your hands together until they are dry.

 

Be sure to visit the Get Ready campaign’s hand-washing page for great information and materials on hand-washing.

Global Hand-Washing Day works to prevent spread of disease: Events planned for Oct. 15

Today marks Global Hand-Washing Day and more than 200 million people will be involved in events around the world. The observance spreads the message that regularly washing your hands with clean, running water and soap is an important step in keeping yourself from getting sick and spreading germs to others.

Hand-washing with soap is one of the easiest ways to prevent diarrhea, a leading cause of death for children worldwide, as well as acute respiratory infections such as pneumonia.

In our newest podcast, APHA’s Get Ready Report team speaks with Alfonso Contreras, regional advisor for health promotion at the Pan American Health Organization, about the importance of proper hand-washing.

“We are talking about one of the most cost-effective procedures in public health,” Contreras says. “We don’t realize sometimes that some of the classic measures are still some of the best resources that we have in public health.”

Global Hand-Washing Day organizers are hoping to break a Guinness World Record of people demonstrating hand-washing at the same time on Oct. 15. The region of the Americas already holds the record, with more than 740,000 people taking part in 2011, but the goal this year is to have more than 1 million participants, Contreras said. Public health advocates are encouraged to take part, and planning tools are available from PAHO.

Remember, just because your hands don’t have any visible dirt on them doesn’t mean that they are clean. Here are some tips when it comes to hand-washing, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

• Wash your hands several times a day, particularly before eating and after using the bathroom.
• After wetting your hands with water and applying soap, rub your hands together. Make sure to clean the back of your hands, under your nails and between your fingers, and continue rubbing your hands for at least 20 seconds.
• When water and soap are unavailable, use a hand sanitizer with at least 60 percent alcohol. Remember that hand sanitizers do not kill all types of germs, and should not replace routine hand-washing with soap.

Listen to our podcast with Contreras or read the transcript for more information. And make plans to celebrate Global Hand-Washing Day on Oct. 15!

For tips and tools to use at your events, check out our Get Ready hand-washing fact sheets, which are available in both English and Spanish.