There is caution about touching the door with cloth or anything else you keep with you and don’t wash off before you put somewhere else. It can spread the virus over a greater surface area. Germ on doorknob goes on handkerchief now goes into pocket where the hand will go again later in the day. The virus can last at least 24 hours or longer in the pocket or on the cloth. So now instead of germ on hand until one washes off the hand, it’s germ in pocket or anyplace the cloth goes until the pocket and cloth and everything they touched gets washed.
The virus doesn’t absorb through skin.
Please Don't Believe These Coronavirus Scams And Advice The skin is actually a pretty good barrier. It’s when it gets past the barrier of the skin that people get sick. That’s why they are so adamant to not touch your face. On the face are all kinds of openings into the body.
How to Actually Stop Touching Your Face
Washing hands and not touching face and staying six feet away from others to not inhale larger airborne mucus are really good things to focus on right now. Gloves can help but there is a way to remove them to not spread the virus they may have picked up. (Google for info.) They are also short on gloves masks etc in hospitals and we need those hospital workers not getting sick so they can stay at work and save the most people.
If one touches a surface with the virus with your hand instead of a cloth - one can wash the hand easier and quicker than the cloth. Also reduces later touching a germy cloth with live virus on it.
That all being said, ya gotta do what ya gotta do. I have used my sleeve to touch doorknobs... but then I end up feeling like to have burn my shirt. :/
For me, I’m now living in an area where I’m now experiencing more than one friend testing postive with covid 19 in the past 24 hours. It’s getting harder every day. Fast. It is really hard to figure out how to do anything. Ultimately, social distancing is really key. Most are getting sick from being physically close to others. Same workplaces, same homes, etc. I’m maximizing every chance I have got to survive right now and staying away from people and doing every remote that I can. I won’t even answer the door for a delivery person. I wave through the window and they wave back. No amount of hand washing or purell is going to make much difference if someone coughs all over me.
Because I touched too many germy things with cloth I had to do laundry today in a communal laundry... and it might have been a mistake. It was really hard, but I had many pairs of knit gloves I had used to go somewhere that needed to be washed. (It’s still cold here at times.) I also was out of any clean clothes and just couldn’t wear the same ones I wore. UV light kills the virus so I feel best outside when it’s warm enough to be outside and distant from others... but walking into the laundry? I sprayed the doorknob and everything I would touch with a soap spray first before touching it, then waited touching nothing, then touched the surface. I think I’m going to wash clothes in my bathtub after today until I’ll be able to do laundry at a friends place where it’s just him. They are bleaching the small communal laundry often now, but... I hope this one trip today wasn’t a mistake. Doc said it would be ok. Just clean with soap all surfaces before and after and air it out. Ok doc...
I’m worried about friend of mine with covid 19. They have become very sick very quickly and they sound terrible on the phone. They are still home, but if they get worse... the hospital ICU beds are full. Already. We are weeks away from the peak, at best.
I have to be careful what I write. I don’t want to be too forceful or adamant in my own fear. I want to tell everyone where this isn’t so bad as it is here right now, stop thinking about what is weird or feels most comfortable or whatever. Think safety and survival. Get the heck away from people as much as possible right now until this all gets under better control. Now. Right now. Not two weeks from now. Now. Today. Not yesterday... now is when the infection will spread. Later when so many are sick everyone is shit scared, everyone will be staying away enough that infections will drop and risk will drop to do things... until then? Do not be afraid of being the first one that takes space because you’ll increase your odds dramatically.
BUT, all of us will have to do things to take risks. Me the laundry, another to continue working in the office, etc. I support anyone measuring the pros and cons and doing what is best for themselves. We are not all going to agree or do the same things, and that’s ok. I have done some things because the risks to my health of not doing them and my financial collapse would have been worse. There is going to be a balance to it all.
For me right now, the decisions are all really stressful. I’m scared I’m going to experience people I love die. It’s just really real right now.
Also, when this is over, shiiit. I’m seriously going to need some therapy to get over what a germaphobe I’ll be. A simple laundry room now feels like a threat. At least the sun still feels good on my face.
