Germs everywhere
It looks like a robber’s convention out there with people wearing masks, the surgical type. It’s good to breath in as few germs as you can and folks are wearing latex gloves now.
If you had to choose between the masks and gloves I’d go with the gloves since we eat on the run out of our hands, rub our eyes, touch our faces and handle our cellphones.
Anything you touch in a public place has been touched thousands of times before.
An article in the New York Post caught my eye regarding ATMS.
Their research found that ATM screens are the dirtiest things in New York; dirtier than poles in the subway cars and handles on public toilets.
The next time I passed an ATM I looked it over.
From any angle the screen was smudgy and I wondered how many fingers had punched the buttons since the last cleaning; probably thousands and (like) never.
The website WEBMD had a list of nasty places, the first being a surprise, bathroom hand dryers.
They opined that as toilets flush they create a mist of water and other stuff. The air through a hand dryer just circulates the air in the bathroom.
When you eat out consider this: Restaurant menus have one hundred times more bacteria than a toilet seat.
They say you should make a selection and go wash your hands. And, don’t touch the menu again. While washing your hands did you touch the soap dispenser?
If you like a lemon wedge in your glass of water choke on this. Of those lemon wedges collected and tested most contained harmful bacteria such as e.coli. While you are squirting catsup from the red plastic container on your fries ask the server when it was last sanitized.
The list includes the television remote, bedside lamp buttons, light switches, bedspread and phones in hotel rooms.
I use a pen or knuckle to push elevator buttons and never use a public water fountain.
It is wise to use the cleaning wipes from the dispenser beside the grocery carts because the handles are never sanitized. I have seen kids gnawing on the cart handle.
Add to this everything in gyms and workout rooms and everything in a playground.
The “Prevention” website includes vending machines, escalator and stairway hand rails and everything on a bus.
I take my own pen to the doctor’s office. The pen chained to the counter for signing in patients has already been used by all the sick people who arrived before you.
If this isn’t bad enough remember that whatever you touch during the day you bring into your car and home.
Joe Phillips writes his “Dear me” columns for several small newspapers. He can be reached at joenphillips@hotmail.com.