Wash Your Hands – It Keeps the Germs Away!
Hand Washing
Hand washing is a simple thing and is the best way to keep hands clean in order to prevent infection and illness. The basic rule is to wash hands before preparing food and after handling uncooked meat and poultry, before eating, after changing diapers, after coughing, sneezing, or blowing one’s nose into a tissue, after using the bathroom, and after touching animals or anything in the animal’s environment. Keeping hands clean prevents illness at home, at school, and at work.
How to wash your hands:
- Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
- Rub hands together to make lather and scrub them well; be sure to scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
- Continue rubbing hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Imagine singing “Happy Birthday” twice through to a friend.
- Rinse hands well under running water.
- Dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.
Always use soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
If soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub to clean your hands.. Alcohol-based hand rubs significantly reduce the number of germs on skin and are fast-acting.
For more information or resources on hand washing click on the links below:
www.cdc.gov/handwashing
www.henrythehand.com
www.itsasnap.org
www.fightbac.org
*WCHD is not affiliated with nor supportive of any company or product found on linked websites. We are simply linking to sites that offer helpful hand washing information.