August 15, 2023

COVID-19 Basics

#TheGrandFAQ

How can I keep myself from touching my face, eyes and nose?

Your face offers multiple entry points for the virus. So every time you touch your eyes, nose and mouth with grubby hands, you risk infection.

“If you have touched a table or a doorknob or some surface contaminated [with the virus] and then touch your eyes, nose or mouth, you have a chance of inoculating yourself with the virus,” says Daniel Kuritzkes, infectious disease expert at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

But, as a matter of habit, most of us touch our faces multiple times an hour without even realizing it.

So, here’s an idea. “After you wash your hands really well, touch a piece of raw onion,” says Catherine Belling of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. With this strong smell on your fingers, “you’ll notice when you touch your face,” she says. Sure, it may make you a tad antisocial, but it could be a good way to train yourself to touch less.

Source: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/03/14/811609026/the-new-coronavirus-can-live-on-surfaces-for-2-3-days-heres-how-to-clean-them