The coronavirus has placed a renewed focus on sanitation at a very important time. Everyone now washes their hands more and for longer and that is fantastic. Videos have gone viral featuring famous people washing their hands to try and get people to catch on to the idea. The best one yet is of the lead singer of The Killers washing his hands to the chorus of Mr.Brightside which just happens to be as long as the required length of time to kill bacteria. However, there is another step that everyone can implement that can make it tougher to catch a virus. Stop touching your face.
So simple and yet so damn difficult. During the coronavirus, people have refound many old passions. Some have realized how much they love painting, others have realized how much they love reading, but everyone is realizing how much they love touching their face. The moment you are told not to touch your face is the exact moment a strange itch starts to occur, it begs you to scratch your nose or ear just a little bit but you must not.
As you carry on your daily life you don’t realize how many substances your hand comes in contact with. You touch the button of an elevator, the railing of stairs, the handle of a door and that is all before you leave your building. That already may be enough. Now imagine the random occurrences that take place throughout the day, holding a shopping cart, picking up a pen, tying your shoes. It is endless and often. Your hands will likely come in contact with the coronavirus at some point. That is fine. That will happen. You can’t actually get sick from that.
You get sick when you then touch your face and the virus gets inside you. Your face is covered in orifices (holes) and each one is a gateway for the virus into your body. While there are layers of mucus protecting these holes from disease some will still get through. Those that do will have a good chance of making you sick.
So to get sick during the coronavirus pandemic or during any flu season, you need to touch something that has the disease, then touch your face, and then it can attack your internal organs. If you don’t touch your face your remove one of the main routes the coronavirus has to attack you. Rudy Gobert is an NBA basketballer who will now always be famous for the wrong reasons. As the outbreak was starting to grow he said he was not worried about the virus during a press conference and proceeded to touch around ten mics with his hand. He quickly caught the virus.
The other way to catch the virus is by people breathing it out near you, coughing, and sneezing. By social distancing, we can ensure we don’t catch the virus this way. To not catch this virus is so incredibly simple. Practice social distance, wash your hands, don’t touch your face. Then you will be fine. Yet at present, it seems so many people just aren’t willing to do that.
To be fair, not touching your face is difficult. The best trick we have found is to have a box of tissues nearby. If you need to scratch an itch or itch a scratch then you can use a tissue as the barrier between your hand and your face. Whatever trick you use, just don’t touch your face. The other good news is that not touching your face is seen as a confident demeanor so if you learn this habit now, it will benefit you for life.
