As you gather with friends, family and co-workers this holiday season, it’s important to do all you can to stay healthy so you can start 2014 off on a good note! Eating healthy, exercising regularly and getting your flu shot are good starts, but you can still pass on nasty germs in social settings if you don’t practice proper hand hygiene. Handwashing with soap and water or using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer are the best ways to prevent the transfer of germs. Just remember:
Don’t splash and dash – Use of the lackadaisical “splash and dash” handwashing technique doesn’t count! You need to wash carefully, with soap, for at least 20 seconds. This contact time is important for lifting germs from hands and rinsing them down the drain. When using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer leave your hands wet for at least 15 seconds. This amount of time is necessary to cover your entire hand and to allow the proper contact time for the alcohol to kill the germs.
Clean hands at critical times – Since it’s impossible to constantly practice hand hygiene, washing at critical times is the most practical way to prevent germ spread. One such critical time is before food preparation. Germs such as E. coli, can be deposited onto food from unwashed hands. Another critical hand hygiene moment is after handling raw foods. Raw food contact can spread germs by cross-contaminating anything you touch. For instance, if you’re preparing raw chicken and you go to the refrigerator without handwashing, the fridge door handle is now contaminated and a risk to the next person to touch it. Proper hand hygiene can interrupt this form of germ transmission.
Encourage others to practice good hand hygiene – You could do everything right and still have germs spread at your holiday gathering if others aren’t as careful as you. Keep pump bottles of alcohol-based hand sanitizer in strategic food prep and dining locations or “gift” your host with hand sanitizer if you’re the guest.
Proper hand hygiene during the holiday season is about maintaining your good health while safeguarding the health and well-being of loved ones. By taking a few easy steps, you and your family and friends won’t spread germs like unwanted party favors.
More information about hand hygiene tips during the holidays is available at www.purell.com/coldandflu and www.gojo.com/coldandflu.