To expect guests to wash their hands on arrival?

[SillyFillyDress]

Am I being unreasonable in thinking people should wash their hands when coming from outside to your house?
Would you ask kids who come to yours for a playdate to wash their hands?
Would you ask adults?

The voice of reason and common sense.

Ignoramus. Lots of people live with long covid and/or are vulnerable. Good for you that you don't have to consider other people's needs.

You are welcome to feel that way. I do not.

If OP asked me to wash my hands on entering her house I would do so to humour her out of politeness but I'd think she was a bit obsessive.

I'm with you on this.

Dirty

You can keep calling people dirty for behaving perfectly normally if you like. Isn't likely to convince anyone you're the rational one.

I'm 65 and have never once been asked to wash my hands when I arrive at someone's house, and wouldn't dream of asking anyone to do so when visiting me. It's weird.

But you would be wrong to do so.

I think washing hands, hand which will actually touch things, will have far more impact than removing shoes!

weird unless you have a baby - i always wash my hands on arrival ( from public transport ) before touching my baby grandson

My residence isn't exactly sterile, so asking people who have already closed the bathroom door after they have washed their hands seems counter-productive to me.

Alcohol gel isn’t effective against all pathogens. It doesn’t work against the virus that keeps being mentioned, for example, and many don’t contain enough alcohol to do anything much at all.

Exactly!

You know when they talk of “too sterile” a home environment? They mean anti-bac’ing and bleaching everything to within an inch of its life. They’re not talking about basic hand hygiene FGS!

i wouldn’t call it health anxiety to realise that practising better hand hygiene during COVID meant a reduction in the spread of other viruses, and to want to keep that up. Nowhere else has shown that better than in primary schools where kids are not known for great hand hygiene. I work in one. The minute we stopped with the hand washing reminders and hand sanitising up went the number of kids off with viruses and bugs. I wish we could go back to the extra hygiene. My colleagues and I are constantly ill. It’s not always possible to wash your hands often enough when you’re around snotty kids.

We live on a farm, so anyone who visits automatically takes off their boots/shoes and washes their hands when coming indoors.
I do the same when visiting others.
It's not rocket science, just common sense.
I did, however, once know a married couple who requested visitors took off their shoes and washed their feet in a dish provided for them when visiting - I wondered how they'd go when they had children, whether that would continue.
I am certainly not offended if someone points me in the direction of their bathroom on my first visit to their home.

Nope you're being very weird. I'm on the spectrum regarding hygiene. I expect people to wash their hands after using the loo and before and after eating.

You added you have a newborn- for me that makes a huge difference. I sent everyone to the sink once they entered the house when I had a little one too (first 2-3 yrs). No one minded.
When I interviewed Nannies my expectation was they ask to wash their hands when they come in; if they didn’t they were automatically rejected (and about 60-70% did without any prompts so I don’t think it’s out of the ordinary).

When I grew up (albeit in Germany) this was the rule and to not wear your outside shoes at someone's home. My friends in Germany still do that... but in the UK, it would be perceived as odd. Folks in the UK are generally more relaxed about spreading illnesses too, just different culturally.

No, I wouldn’t.

Nope. And if you asked me if I wanted to I'd say no thank you.

I think I'd insist on people with visibly dirty hands (mud, dust, oil, plant residue, soil, ink, paint etc) washing them but I wouldn't expect to be having to insist with anybody over the age of five. (Most of that stuff = messy, some of it will contain pollen which I'd prefer to minimise indoors as I have hayfever)

If we were in a pandemic where fomite transmission was a big thing, I'd expect everybody to wash their hands coming in from outdoors.

I did this when I had a newborn and they came for a cuddle, but not any other time

No, I never expect people to wash their hands when they enter my house

I do it, but it wouldn’t occur to me to expect anyone else to. I do it to avoid getting colds and viruses as much as possible.