Not to get wearing disposable gloves?

[HelenaHyena]

Surely if you touch contaminated things, the virus will just be on the gloves instead of your hands, and then whatever you touch with your gloved hands while you are out, including your phone or bank card etc, will still get the virus? If you touch your face with a glove on or off, it would still have the virus on it if you'd touched something contaminated? Surely going out without gloves and washing your hands when you come in/using viral disinfectant, is the same as going out with gloves and disposing of them on return?

I see people complaining about kids out not wearing gloves. I'm bit sure it makes any difference. The kid touches a railing with a gloved hand, then touches their face. Kid touches railing with no glove, then touches their face. Same difference?

You would need to be changing them all the time to make them effective

Well for a start my kids aren't going out. I wear gloves because they stop me touching my face. I wear a mask because it stops me touching my face. My masks aren't medical ones before anyone thinks I'm contributing to the shortage.
When I get home I then wash my hands and face.

I think it's more the physical reminder to not touch your face. At least that's why I wanted some at work (retail) when we did not have hand washing facilities in easy reach. Because I was in daily close contact with lots of people and handling cash and products, I thought with gloves on it would just be a sort of visual reminder to myself to not touch my face until I had a chance to get upstairs, take the gloves off and wash my hands. They must have some benefit or doctors wouldn't wear them.

yes, but I can understand to a degree a person putting some on eg at a petrol station and then taking them off straight away. Theu give false confidence as do masks, some claim they discourage face touching

Ah OK, I understand if it's for the physical reminder. I guess I was thinking simarly to dementedpixie in that you'd have to change them regularly throughout the day when out to be effective?

I wear gloves because I have bad eczema on my hands and worry that the broken skin will make it easier for me to contract the virus.

If you are incubating, it means you do not put as much virus from your body on to a surface

Gloves might be a useful prop to remind you, as fingers stray to face, that you must not touch

If you have to touch multiple surfaces, and are ending journey where there is no sink and you have no sanitiser, at least you can peel off the worst that on your hands and bin the gloves

If you are a delivery driver, you can keep your cab ‘my germs only’ more easily if you put gloves on as you exit the cab, wear them as you touch delivery items and doorbell, and discard on reentering cab.

I suppose it makes sense if used properly but you are right that some people see them as a magic germ shield. I work in a hospital and until now I saw this all the time - people put gloves on to touch a patient then without taking gloves off use a pen, keyboard, send a text or answer the phone. Not thinking at all.

1300 cakes yes, that's what I meant, the whole "magic germ shield" some people think they are.

Completely understand for all the other reasons listed, thank you everyone

Yes, I think actually they're probably even more manky than our hands. As I understand it the virus only survives a few minutes on hands but much longer on plastic and other surfaces. They're going to get just as dirty as hands but be washed less frequently.

Totally agree. They are not a magic item of clothing which will protect you from getting the lurgy.

You'd have to leave the house wearing your gloves and then change for a fresh pair absolutely every time you touched something. You're perhaps less likely to touch your face wearing them. But that's about it.

I reckon at least half the people who have started wearing protective gloves because of Covid19 will be taking them off wrong and getting contaminated anyway.

I had this discussion with my DP. He thinks that wearing gloves are good. Whereas I am like you OP, unless you change them after every activity they will just be moving and spreading the virus around.

It is much better to wash your hands more often. If you are going to wear gloves remember that they are single use. Once you take them off they need to be thrown away not put back on and reused. Once you have removed the gloves you need to wash your hands.

I do have some I bought for work, but my employers wouldn't allow us to wear them, but I haven't been wearing them. I'm not so concerned about one off trips to the shop etc as I just wash my hands when I get home and use hand sanitizer while out and about. I think they're less useful for the one off trips most of us are allowed at the moment.