In the last hours, dozens of messages on Twitter share a “valuable recommendation” to avoid possible coronavirus infections: “use your non-dominant hand for doorknobs, transportation, bathrooms, etc. because it is very difficult for you to touch your face with that hand” .
The council, whose first supposed validity is that it was widely disseminated in Korea, has been shared by accounts with thousands of followers, such as the Valencian Community’s emergency and security communication office, the profile of the Murcia local police or the writer and journalist Rosa Montero.
We will contribute to make this recommendation viral:
You must use the non-dominant hand for latches, transport, or baths.
The explanation is that it is difficult for you to touch your face with that hand and that the # COVID19 come into contact with any mucosa. #EsteVirusLoParamosUnidos– GVA 112CV (@ GVA112) March 19, 2020
When you go to open the door of your house, car, press the elevator button or touch any object, we challenge you to do it with your non-dominant hand.
This way you reduce the risk of getting it in case you touch your face.
Do you accept the challenge? ♀️
Help us to share it pic.twitter.com/OVt31PlZpG
– Murcia Local Police (@MurciaPolicia) March 18, 2020
A VALUABLE RECOMMENDATION
Use your nondominant hand for doorknobs, transportation, bathrooms, etc. because it is very difficult for you to touch your face with that hand. This advice was widely disseminated in Korea.
SHARE!– Rosa Montero (@BrunaHusky) March 18, 2020
However, the fact of touching a surface or object with one hand or the other, whether it is the dominant one or not, “does not matter,” a member of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene (SEMPSPH) assures ABC. .
The viralized method refers, for example, to someone who is right-handed trying to open the door with his left hand, since, it is supposed, he is less likely to bring that hand – not dominant – to his face.
However, for the SEMPSPH expert we speak of “automatisms difficult to change”. «You don’t realize how many times you touch your face and with which hand. You can try to avoid it, but they are things that we do unconsciously and that are difficult to modify «.
Likewise, in an oversight, both hands can touch each other or, unconsciously and unintentionally, touch the face, whether the person is left-handed, right-handed or ambidextrous.
The important thing, according to the member of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Hygiene, is “to focus on those things that we do consciously.” In this sense, it insists on hand washing and hygiene, a measure with “demonstrable effectiveness”.
According to the instructions of the Ministry of Health, it is important to maintain frequent hand hygiene (washing with soap and water or alcoholic solutions), especially after direct contact with sick people or their surroundings and avoid touching their eyes, nose and mouth, since the hands facilitate the transmission.
Washing your hands is so important that it can help you prevent #coronavirus.
We do it from childhood, but do we know how to wash our hands correctly? pic.twitter.com/wp9GSGKD2G
– Ministry of Health (@sanidadgob) March 9, 2020
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