Don't want to get sick this winter? The pandemic health habits to keep long term
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Loading... - Axel Koopman
- 21 Jun 2022
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We’re two and a half years into the Covid-19 pandemic and it seems other viruses are making a grab for the spotlight.
There are outbreaks of hand, foot and mouth disease at childcare centres across the territory, soaring influenza case numbers, and the emergence of monkeypox in Australia (though experts say it’s unlikely to take off).
The good news is that continuing some of the health and hygiene habits adopted because of Covid will also reduce the risk of contracting other lurgies, experts say.
Minding your hands
Studies have shown the number of people soaping their hands after a trip to the toilet was low before the pandemic: around one in four globally, and one in two in areas with good access to hand-washing facilities.
This led to a lot of (grubby) finger-pointing early in the pandemic, with a deluge of public messaging and awkward celebrity videos emphasising the importance of washing your hands thoroughly with soap and running water for 20 seconds, or using hand sanitiser if you can’t get to a tap.
Dr Kerry Hancock, an Adelaide-based GP with a special interest in respiratory medicine, says although it’s now known that Sars-CoV-2 mainly spreads through the air, hand hygiene is the “cornerstone” of infection prevention – and a simple way to cut transmission of other viruses and bacteria.
“It’s such an easy thing to do, to keep washing or sanitising our hands before we eat or touch things … but anecdotally I think people aren’t as fanatical about it as they were six months ago, at the peak [of Covid cases].”
Associate Prof Holly Seale, an expert in perceptions and behaviours regarding infectious diseases, notes most people are taught from childhood about hygiene in the context of protecting themselves – but hand hygiene goes both ways.
Making sure your hands are clean before a trip to the shops or a ride in an elevator is “certainly about protecting other people as well”.
Habit to ditch: gloves
However, wearing gloves to protect yourself from germs on surfaces, such as supermarket trolleys, is unnecessary, Seale says.
“People who wear gloves are less likely to wash their hands and may be increasing their risk because they think their hands are clean.”
Regular jabs
Seale recommends everyone over six months old get the influenza vaccine, which in 2022 is protective against four strains. Read More...
