We knew it all along: Just wash your hands
Way back in 1909 a doctor from Brooklyn, Robert Eccles, called for a public campaign of handwashing. More than 100 years later, Dr. Eccles’s advice might be the best we have for stopping the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Dr. Eccles was passionate about washing hands to prevent the spread of disease. The first step in his campaign was to educate the public. He knew handwashing would save lives.
He wrote about it in the Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette. Everything that you touch has germs on it, Dr. Eccles wrote. Luckily,
most will be harmless. But some are harmful. If you touch your eyes or mouth without washing your hands you could be unknowingly transferring a disease to yourself. Washing your hands can stop germs that cause disease.
Dr. Eccles encouraged magazines and newspapers to spread information about handwashing to the public. The New York Press wrote that his simple advice “may save your own or some one else’s life.”
As most of us have heard by now, the main symptoms of the coronavirus are fever, tiredness, and dry cough. Most people (around 80%) recover from the disease without needing special treatment. The most serious cases lead to difficulty breathing.
Handwashing can help prevent coronavirus and other diseases. An excellent resource is the Centers for Disease Control page titled “Clean Hands Save Lives.”
The CDC emphasizes that “Handwashing can help prevent illness. It involves five simple and effective steps (wet, lather, scrub, rinse, dry) you can take to reduce the spread of diarrheal and respiratory illness so you can stay healthy.”
The CDC exclaims “Handwashing is a win for everyone, except the germs.” If soap and water are not available, the CDC says you “can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol.”
A handwashing campaign is something every one of us can implement at home, at work or at school. It’s important to post reminders because even these days, it might be easy for someone to forget to wash their hands. Reminders
can help, especially before eating.
Also think of nutrition. A good diet with healthy foods like fruits and vegetables can help your immune system. Nutrition is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, especially to deal with the stress of the coronavirus.
Help others. The charity Save the Children sent 36,000 face masks to hospitals in Wuhan, China, to help the stricken city cope with the coronavirus outbreak. Even as we care for ourselves and our families, we must not forget the suffering in other countries both from malnutrition and disease. The World Food Program’s efforts all over the world save lives through nutrition, which stops hunger and can prevent the spread of disease.
When you donate to foodbanks you can also include soap and hand-sanitizer. Little actions like these can help prevent the spread of disease in a community.
The arrival of the coronavirus is frightening. But it should not make you feel powerless. You can be part of the handwashing campaign, keep your distance from people sneezing or coughing and take care of yourself.
The more we do to prevent the spread of coronavirus, the more it helps health care workers treat existing cases.
Dr. Eccles would be proud to see a handwashing campaign take place more than 100 years after he made the simple, but so vital, proposal.
William Lambers is an author and historian from suburban Cincinnati.