What You Need To Know About Handwashing
To protect yourself and others, LifeBridge Health recommends taking these steps for effective handwashing:
- Use soap and water to wash your hands.
- Scrub for at least 20 seconds with soap and under clean running water. Clean under your fingernails, too.
- If you use a towel to dry your hands, make sure it is clean.
When washing your hands, the temperature of the water does not matter. It only matters that the water is clean. Bar soap and liquid soap are equally effective, and plain soap works as well as antibacterial soap.
If you do not have access to soap or water, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly kill most types of germs on the hands but may not kill certain bacteria and viruses that can cause diarrhea. You should wash your hands before eating or after using the restroom.
For more information about handwashing visit, cdc.gov/handwashing/
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