Wearing disposable gloves in the office

[chomalungma]

Some people at work are wearing disposable gloves in the office. We have hand washing facilities, are social distancing, encouraging staff to use the same area and PC and have hand sanitisers available. But still some staff are wearing them.

It makes me uncomfortable. I don't see how it helps prevent the spread. If they touch an object that is contaminated, then it goes on the gloves and can then be spread to the mouth in the same way that it would be if it was on the hands. People wash their hands but they don't wash their hands with gloves on.

By not washing their gloved hands, they are potentially spreading any virus around.

AIBU to ask people not to wear gloves in the office?

YANBU. Totally ridiculous.

But gloves stop your hands from touching the virus. If you wear a mask , as well, then you’ll be less likely to pick the virus up. Obviously if you fiddle with your mask then you’re more likely to pick the virus up.
The right thing to do here is to regularly change your gloves.
There’s no point putting gloves on and just carry on regardless but if it makes people feel more confident in their workspace then so be it.

Gloves just mean people are less careful about hand washing and cross contamination IME.

But gloves stop your hands from touching the virus

True - but then they get the virus on the gloves which then gets spread around - whereas regular handwashing will eliminate it.

Agree @chomalungma - just wash your hands and don't bother with the gloves.

Also the glvoes are SINGLE USE PLASTIC and if you are using them properly you should be going through a lot. Not great when you can just wash your hands.

YANBU. This is exactly why I would never eat food from anywhere they prepared it with gloves.

Gloves have always been extremely unhygienic. People stop washing their hands and think they’re “safe” and “clean” so touch everything and anything with gloves.

I use them when i am touching doors around the office, say going to the kitchen, then take them off back at my desk to work with clean hands. If the doors are clean then gloves will be clean. If not then the virus stays on the gloves. I put them away for a week then use again. I don’t care what other people think, it saves sterilising my hands every time I make a cup of tea

The thought of how sweaty their hands are is setting me right off

Gloves only work if you change them everytime you do a new task. Otherwise you’re just picking up the virus/germs on your gloves and moving it around (or worse, touching your face).

It’s better to either wash your hands regularly or if you wear gloves (Which aren’t really needed if you’re washing hands), change them regularly. A medical professional wouldn’t wear the same gloves to examine different patients.

Gloves are useless unless you understand the principle and use them accordingly, most people don't. The plastic waste is going to be horrendous.

Just wash your hands for goodness sake.

I use them for painting, and the sweat that pours out of them is just vile. If you are handling something contaminated, then fair enough. But otherwise no.

@Pleasebeaflesbite and how are you taking the gloves off back at your desk, you should take them off by pulling them off at the cuff inside out. You have also been touching your cup from the kitchen so that will potentially be contaminated and you are then touching it with bare hands back at your desk.

Maybe they stop people touching their faces as much? Maybe they make people feel safer?

They can only spread the virus around if it’s there already, it’s not coming from their skin like the non glove wearers could be doing in between hand washes etc.

Pleasebeaflesbite, if there is virus on the door, you will get it on your gloves, then pass it to the cupboard doors, the tap, the kettle, the mug, the milk bottle, and therefore put your colleagues at risk.
If you have no gloves, you get it from the kitchen door, then wash your hands and don't spread it anywhere, protecting everyone else in the building.
Wearing gloves just spreads the virus more than hand washing..
I

I use one glove for door handles and the hot water tap and cupboard doors. I use my other hand ungloved for the teabags and the milk which are single use sachets.

I Use one hand to take off my glove From the inside and leave it on the corner of my desk. I don’t actually touch the outside of the glove And I keep it in a sealed black bag with a weeks worth of gloves then recycle a week later

If there is a virus on the kitchen door then every one else that is using the kitchen door then the stuff in the kitchen is spreading it. I’m just ensuring I don’t pick it up

Virus lasts on the gloves an awful lot longer than it lasts on skin, so much more scope for transferring it.

My thinking was that if someone without gloves has touched something in the office - such as when they go to the kitchen, they can then wash their hands before returning to their desk.

Whereas if people have gloves on, then they are unlikely to be washing their hands and could be spreading it around more.

People should be washing their hands more anyway.

But gloved hands (and it seems that some people are wearing gloves continuously instead of regularly changing them) present more opportunity to spread it around.

If I recall correctly the WHO does not recommend gloves, for all the reasons mentioned on this thread. But the rate we're going, people will soon be bathing in the blood of freshly sacrificed virgins because "Marjorie at No 42 said it made her feel safer".

I mean whatever makes them feel conforms or I suppose, as long as they are wearing them correctly and disposing of them correctly.

Although research does show that the risk is less than 10,000:1 of catching covid from a contaminated surface. That’s not including the odds of the surface actually being contaminated in the first place. So it does seem a bit disproportionate but hey live and let live.

Zombie thread.

It's a load of bollocks and always was. Just a step behind sanitising surfaces. But YABU for caring what others do.