This week is National Handwashing Awareness Week.

According to the CDC, when washing your hands you should wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap, then lather your hands by rubbing them together with soap. After that you should scrub for at least 20 seconds, then rinse your hands well under running water. Finally you should dry your hands by using a clean towel or air drying them. The CDC says that keeping your hands clean is one of the most important things to stop the spread of germs and stay healthy. Judi Van Hulzen with Marion County Public Health says there are ways to sanitize temporarily if soap and water aren’t immediately available. 

“If you don’t have soap and water, use that hand sanitizer, and make sure it is at least 60% alcohol based. Be aware that hand sanitizer will not protect you against those diarrheal types of illnesses like e coli, salmonella, and norovirus, so you still need to wash your hands with soap and water later on.”

For more information about proper hand washing, follow this link.