NATIONWIDE – Many people are looking for the best options to prevent themselves from getting sick with COVID-19 and one of the questions that keeps coming up is whether people should wear gloves when they leave their homes.
As of now, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does not recommend wearing gloves in public as a preventative measure. The reason? Washing your hands is just as effective and even if you are wearing gloves, you’re likely not doing it correctly.
On a normal day when medical professionals wear gloves at the hospital or your doctor’s office, it’s recommended by the World Health Organization that those professionals really only wear gloves if there is a chance they could be touching bodily fluids. You may have noticed they don’t normally wear gloves when checking your blood pressure for example.
LIVE BLOG: COVID-19/Coronavirus News & Announcements
And if they are wearing gloves, they are changed frequently— very frequently. The moment they are done touching what needs to be touched, the gloves come off. You’re not going to see a doctor get done examining a patient and then touch a door handle with their gloves still on.
If you are wearing gloves and the gloves come into contact with germs, you could spread the gloves from one surface to another.
Or, if gloves aren’t taken off properly, you’re just as likely to get any germs they came into contact with on your hands or whatever surface you place the gloves on before you dispose of them.
So if gloves aren’t the answer, what can you do to prevent the spread when you do have to leave your home? The CDC currently recommends washing your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, and avoiding touching your face as much as possible.
This will not only kill the germs but prevent them from getting in contact with the parts of your body where you can contract an illness.
RELATED | How Long Does the Coronavirus Live on Surfaces?
There are a few instances in which the CDC does recommend the use of gloves—the big one is if you are caring for someone in your household who is sick with the coronavirus.
Those individuals are being guided to wear gloves and face masks any time they may come into contact with bodily fluids and to wash their hands the moment the gloves come off. The CDC says the gloves should be thrown away immediately and should not be reused.