Hand washing
I take germ killing very seriously. The coronavirus pandemic has taught us a lot about hygiene - retarding the spread of germs on the skin of our hands, and retarding it through barriers to physical proximity. Or both simultaneously. Having grown up with a doctor in the family, my brothers and I have long been familiar with proper hand washing. It was kind of quaint to see the rest of the population cotton on after the fact. But I was disappointed when I read this Friday, February 12, 2021 story in The Japan Times print newspaper, “Only 21% cleaning hands appropriately: survey.” I thought Japanese were more conscientiously clean than that. The survey was conducted in June 2020, and the data was only published in February 2021. The survey questioned people between age 20 and 79 in the Kanto region centering on Tokyo about five situations: before eating food, after returning from public places, after going to the toilet, after touching something outside and after blowing noses, coughing or sneezing.
Researchers here cite pandemic fatigue as a contributing factor to lax hand hygiene. The report was quoted saying that if we wash our hands ten times or fewer during the day, it is highly likely that we have missed some chances to wash our hands. And, as the pandemic worsens, it might require more rigorous education and an assessment of preventive actions, including setting the hand-washing standard at 16 times or more.
Can we be too clean for our own good?
I thought, “What the hell!” With soap and water on the one hand, and liquid ethanol or ethanol-base gel on the other, I wash/sanitize my hands more than 100 times per day, and have been doing so consistently for more than a year now. I know it because I’ve tried counting the number of washings. I give up after it reaches a very high number. By the time I read that story in the morning, before leaving home for the day, I had already washed my hands 10 times. At home I often (but not always) wash with warm water and kitchen bleach, scrubbing up to my elbows, like a surgeon. I wash/sanitize before and after eating. I wash/sanitize after using the toilet. I wash/sanitize whenever I re-enter the apartment from the outside. If I am outside for more than an hour then I shower and change clothes when I return. No exceptions! I often wash/sanitize my hands just for the hell of it. It makes me feel confident, like I’m being effectively proactive, plus I like that hospitally alcohol smell.
It goes like this:
- I wake up, check my body temperature, and have a hot shower;
- Stepping out of the shower and drying off, I sanitize my hands with liquid ethanol;
- I get dressed and put on my shoes and coat to go to the convenience store;
- I sanitize the door handle and locking mechanism before touching it;
- I sanitize my hands, then open the door;
- I go to the convenience store and sanitize my hands there when I enter;
- I buy my print newspaper and sanitize my hands once more on the way out of the store;
- I sanitize my hands in the entryway of my apartment when I re-enter;
- Then I go to the kitchen, wash with soap and warm water and finish by sanitizing with ethanol once more;
- Then I eat my breakfast while reading the paper, after which I wash again with soap and sanitize again with liquid ethanol;
- I get dressed for work and spray my hands with ethanol again;
- I use the toilet then wash and sanitize once more;
- I pack my rucksack for the day, don my face mask, cap and coat, then sanitize once more;
- I repeat the sanitization of the door handle and locking mechanism before touching it to go out;
- I spray my hands with ethanol once more, then open the door and step outside;
- When I arrive at work, I immediately sanitize my hands. By this time, it’s shortly after 8:00 a.m. and I have a whole day of washing and sanitizing ahead of me.
Asian countries have largely avoided the level of crisis that has beset the U.S. and other Western countries, and this is why.
In addition to all that, I gargle several times every day with diluted iodine. Never mind alcohol-based mouth washes. Nothing kills germs in the mouth and throat like iodine.
If you want to use hand-washing as a disease-retarding strategy, you should do it right. I mean, don’t be half-assed about it. It’s better to be completely assed.
Throughout this pandemic, Asian countries have largely avoided the level of crisis that has beset the U.S. and other Western countries, and this is why. We tend to be cleaner. When I explain my hygiene regimen, the common reaction from foreigners here is that “You don’t need to wear a mask in this-and-that situation,” and “You don’t need to wash so much.” They may be right. They are not, of course, but still, they might be. My complaint is that it is always Western people who are looking for and explaining situations NOT to wear masks, maintain social distance, and sanitize hands. It’s not the kind of thinking that will bring the pandemic under control.
I have an English acquaintance who says there is a word for that: hypochondria. I told him that’s not what the word means! Alternately, he describes it as obsessive, or compulsive, or obsessive-compulsive behavior. I say, not at all! It’s smart behavior.
I wonder if it’s possible to be too hygienic? I mean, is it possible to kill so many germs that we are diminishing the level of useful, beneficial microbes inside our bodies and on our skin, towards some negative health repercussions in the future. Can we be too clean for our own good? Interesting.