Hand washing since the pandemic...

[TheGreenDragon]

Have we as a nation learnt nothing?

Still seeing women come out of the toilet cubicle, sprinkle a little water over their fingertips for a few seconds then leave.

No soap, no hot water, no rubbing of hands and certainly not lasting at least 20 seconds.

You could scrub your hands until they are raw and then touch a surface with germs on on the way out! (I know if we all washed our hands well there wouldn't BE germs but still!)

My son was little in the pandemic and he got a real handwashing fixation caused by school making them wash their hands every two minutes - they were absolutely raw. I'd rather a few germs than hands like that due to overwashing

I'm going to be brutally honest here, the pandemic taught me that the consequences of constantly washing/sanitising hands just aren't worth it.

I developed a form of eczema on my hands called pompholyx, absolutely unbearably excruciating. The slightest breeze on my palms, or a drop of water, and the itching was so intense I was like a woman possessed. I would honest to god drop to my knees, find the rough mat for wiping shoes on, and rub my hands back and forth over it until they bled. Or the corner of a desk. On a low point, I used a sharp knife to kinda graze my hands over back and forth, desperate for some small amount of relief. My hands were constantly cracked, open wounds, bleeding, and so painful words can't describe.

The GP said the only solution was to wear a specific cream, and keep my hands away from anything else. No water, soap, nothing. I had to bag them up in sandwich bags tied with a hair band to shower so water wouldn't touch them. Eventually over weeks they healed but I made the mistake of washing them once a few weeks in and realised my mistake, it sent me back to square one.

It's healed thankfully now but I'm still susceptible to it, and soap aggravates it massively. So I am one of the people that rinses fingers with water and moves on. It's not worth it. It nearly ruined my life.

You wouldn't know that to look at me, you'd just judge. My hands get washed in the shower properly each morning and then rinsed through the day, and that's it. People no doubt find it disgusting but until you've actually dealt with it it's hard to judge.

Your poor son.

Some germs are absolutely fine, we've definitely gone too far in the other direction by assuming hands need to be clinically sanitised every second of the day or a terrible tragedy will befall us. I take every opportunity I can to expose my kid to germs after being sequestered away in the pandemic for months at a time. Drop food on the floor, we eat it lol.

I've noticed that the extreme 'omg germs, how can you live with yourself and possibly get back to sleep if you have a wee in the middle of the night and don't wash your hands with soap after, VOM FACE' mentality is more prevalent since the pandemic. It has become the norm for people to compete over how clean they are and how disgusting everyone else is. There has to be a middle ground.

I don’t use hand sanitiser. I wash my hands but I’m sure people on here would say not enough. I don’t wash them when I come in - just if I’m going to prep food (and honestly I sometimes forget that too). Apart from Shingles (so not caused by exterior germs) I’ve had no illness except one cold since 2020.

I've never done the whole 'wash hands when you get in from outside' thing, nor do I before food prep. Never knew either was a thing until mumsnet. The only exception would be if we'd been out somewhere especially muddy like the woods or something and hands were visibly soiled.

That always amazed me. I know someone who was filthy and lived in a hoarder home where they dropped stuff in food and must moved on, washed only face in the kitchen sink as they filled the stairs and couldn't get upstairs anymore (rest of upstairs was like a warehouse) slept in same clothes worn during the day for weeks , smelt of poo often as didn't wipe bum, had to flush toilet with buckets of water as flush had broken because going out to drink was more important. Only washed clothes when they had a massive load that couldn't have enough room to move around in the washer so it got wet and that was it.

Never ill. Never ever ever ill. (often had other things through the drinking admittedly but never coughs, colds, sickness bugs etc)

I don't think the general public lost it over hand washing. We were told the virus was particularly virulent and could survive on surfaces for days etc etc. So people were just following guidelines and being cautious. I had a neighbour bleaching their shopping packaging, that was a little extreme! But it can go the other way, the anti-microbial stuff isn't that good for the environment and can lead to antimicrobial resistance, and that's not well and truly great for us. I'm happy with cold water and regular soap, or just cold water. And frequently am covered head to foot in soil from being outdoors. Cat faeces freaks me out a bit. After living with cats for years, I'm probably host to Toxoplasma Gondii already. I don't like the thought of trailing in dog or cat shit on my shoes. At the same time have had my hand down drains, and even shoulder deep cleaning out a sewer. That said I'm a two shower a day person.

I think for me, it came from using the trains and buses as you never know the amount of people who have touched that button or whether they've washed their hands or not.

But after reading this thread I'm glad I do because the amount who don't think they need to wash their hands after going to the loo and wiping is shocking.

I agree. I wash my hand before cooking, usually because I'm handling raw meat and when I've got obviously dirty hands eg from gardening. I also rarely get ill.

I think lots of handwashing, showering, house cleaning is bad for you. Obviously I'm not advocating living in unwashed squalor, but I do think some people go over the top and it's not good for their immune systems, mental health or their skin.

Yeah it’s hard to know because we hear about how we need to be exposed to germs etc.
I wash after the toilet but not in any other scenario, I never get ill.

I think there's basic thought experiment, would you be happy with someone scratching their arse, picking their nose, touching toilet doors and then making you a sandwich without washing them. I think people can use the toilet without smearing faeces all over their hands and a man touching their own dick isn't the grubbiest thing in the world (though it can be...). It's not exactly a big ask to wash your hands - it's hardly an imposition. I certainly do before most food prep, eating. If you don't have access to clean running water for a few days, you are pretty grateful forever after.

Me too. Can’t remember the last time I was ill, barring asymptomatic Covid.

I wash my hands if they’ve been in contact with anything other than loo paper or the door handle. Our shopping centre has heavy “push” doors, am I supposed to wash my hands every time I go in or out? See also cafe chairs and trays, food packaging, bus rails etc etc.

Ah fair enough, I don't really use public transport that much. Though when I do, I can't say I'm that bothered. I'll happily hold onto a bus railing and then eat a bag of crisps.

Then you have to touch the filthy door, so I use my own hand gel once outside the bog.

I always washed my hands before the virus too, I didn’t suddenly start doing it because of this.

My watch tells me off if I stop washing my hands before 20 seconds. That helps draw my attention to it

So grim, but you always get people on these threads who say they can't be bothered to wash their hands or they have excema or something.

Of course they get less ill. It's just not always obvious because illnesses present differently in different people.

Yes you see this so much on MN, disgusting, I just cannot understand this. I love the feeling of my hands being clean.

Sprinkle a little water over their finger tips! This is exactly what I said to my DD when I noticed how many women didn't wash their hands properly when using public toilets. They might as well not bother!

It's disgusting and unsanitary, you might not get ill but you're spreading germs to other people with your disgusting unwashed hands and teaching your dirty kids to do the same. Yuck.

@soupyspoon having them in the car is pointless and helps no one if you are wandering around touching door handles and stuff other people then have to touch. Have some in your pocket/bag maybe?

I mean, I wash my hands after the loo and before cooking but more because I want them clean as opposed to thinking I need to wash the invisible germs off them.

I just don't go around looking at every surface and imagining a germ fest, and if the loo has run out of soap I just shrug and get on with my day until I next get the opportunity to wash my hands.

Living in a constant alert state for germs seems awfully unhealthy. And my family are never really poorly. My kids are teens now and have had a sickness bug once in primary school, DH travels on trains every day and he's been poorly once in 20 years. I genuinly think the washing obsessed are more likely to get sick because a little bit of germ exposure is a good thing and they don't get this.

I wash to stay dirt free, not stressing about being germ free as they're everywhere.

I lived in China for 12 years so I always have hand sanitiser with me and always wash my hands when I come in from a public place. It’s second nature to me and doubt it will ever change.

There are two sayings I remember from growing up, my grandmother used to say to us "have you washed your paws" wherever we came in or before eating, my Dad would say "if you need to wash your hands you need to use soap".

YANBU
People are gross! I did find an antiviral hand foam in Boots that is good and I have that in my bag and in the car now (it also doesn't get hot like the antibacterial gel).
I do also find it strange though that we learned a lot since covid hit about how many viruses can also spread through the air, but we haven't applied that knowledge either. Even norovirus can spread through the air through toilet flushes and vomit. I still wear a mask, it's easy to do and I haven't been ill for ages, it's great. I don't understand why people have dropped them so readily (apart from those who struggle with wearing them of course).
We need clean air via ventilation/filtration (this should be a public health/government requirement and wouldn't depend on the whims of unhygienic individuals!) and to use a quality mask where appropriate (eg with symptoms).
It would be a start if we had mitigations against airborne infections in healthcare settings
Petition here if anyone would like to sign!
Deadline is 11 May
petition.parliament.uk/petitions/700304