Public shouldn’t wear gloves
Face masks have become a go-to accessory in America’s grocery stores and remaining public areas, with some prominent retailers even requiring them for entry.
But many shoppers have taken it on themselves to go a step further — donning gloves as well.
This may feel safer, but is it? One business that doesn’t think so posted a sign banning gloves, and a picture posted May 5 that went viral on Facebook. Here’s what it said in part:
“If you are wearing the same set of gloves all over town you are only spreading germs everywhere you go. Every door you touch, the cart, the supplies, your phone, your car door, your face, money and change. … DON’T WEAR THE SAME GLOVES EVERYWHERE!”
This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat misinformation on its News Feed.
It seemed a good time to settle this question. Here’s what the experts say.
CDC says no
The glove guidance for the general public from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Don’t.
“CDC doesn’t recommend the general public use gloves. Gloves can be a source of contamination, even for the wearer, if not properly removed,” spokeswoman Kate Grusich said in an email. “COVID-19 spreads through respiratory droplets that can land on surfaces. If the wearer touches a variety of surfaces during the day while wearing the same pair of gloves, contamination can definitely be transmitted from one surface to another.”
The CDC’s online guide for glove use recommends wearing them when cleaning or caring for someone who is sick. It expressly notes gloves are a bad choice for running errands.
Why gloves are a bad idea
But we don’t even have to take the CDC’s word for it. Infectious disease experts across the country agree gloves are a bad idea for general use.
People may assume gloves are a solution on their own without recognizing that in the medical field they’re only part of the process. Gloves are disposed of as soon as the medical personnel leave a contaminated area, and hands are washed before and after removing.
“We’re seeing a lot of people out in public wearing gloves, which isn’t wrong so to say,” Dr. Patricia Dandache, an infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, said in an online post by the organization. “But unfortunately, most people aren’t wearing or disposing of their gloves correctly, which defeats the whole purpose.”
And removing gloves is tricky. Even health care professionals struggle to do it in a way that avoids contamination.
A 2019 study in the American Journal of Infection Control found 37% of health care workers using their normal glove removal technique contaminated themselves
in the process.
And the gloves aren’t providing any additional protection from COVID-19, said Mary Beth Graham, medical director of infection prevention and control at Froedtert Hospital in Milwaukee.
“For things like influenza, COVID, etc., these are things where hand hygiene is sufficient,” she said. “The virus isn’t going to go in through the pores of your skin on your hand. It’s going to get into you if you’re touching commonly touched surfaces and then going in to touch your nose, your mouth, your eyes … before you do hand hygiene (washing).”
All of which brings us to perhaps the largest danger of glove-wearing — the false sense of security.
“Wearing gloves may make someone feel safe, but it will also make people very lax in regards to recognizing that the key part of even wearing gloves is hand hygiene,” Graham said. “Gloves are nothing without hand hygiene.”
Our ruling
A viral Facebook post warned against wearing gloves in public because keeping the same set on means “you are only spreading germs everywhere you go.”
Infectious disease experts around the country agree gloves largely do more harm than good.
They don’t protect the wearer since the coronavirus doesn’t seep in through the skin. They don’t limit spread since they are often worn too long or removed incorrectly. And wearing gloves can stop users from washing hands, which is the step that actually kills the coronavirus.
We rate this claim True.