I came across an Australian government website still promoting this- hand hygiene helps prevent COVID spread.
Obviously I know the importance of hand hygiene in general. I was amazed when it was discovered that before 2020 many people were not washing hands at all.
Surely it is unambiguous that hand washing was not a factor in COVID.
Um, what?
Um, what?
Anecdotal sample size of 1, and I have been very religious with my vaccinations, but I have also been very consistent with my hand sanitizer use, and any time I touch some public object (door handle, gas pump) I am sure to use the sanitizer in my car right afterwards. Not even a cold since I started doing that.
Surely you can point this out by showing us studies that back up your claim?
And your cite for this is an Australian government website that says handwashing IS important in minimizing the risk of COVID? As does every other government website and medical journal in the world, AFAIK. Extensive studies have been done on how long the COVID virus remains active on various surfaces, and the effects of various forms of cleaning.
So what’s your cite for this bullshit claim you made?
Yes, and the result of those studies has consistently been “not very long”, and “not very effective”. There are no confirmed cases of covid transmission through surface contact. Frequent handwashing and cleaning are still very important, of course, because that is a major vector for the flu and many other diseases, but it’s inaccurate to say that it’s important for covid.
Handwashing offers significant protection against influenza: significant protection against covid may be true, but is not definitely proven.
Influenza is primarily a gastro-intestinal disease (with significant respiratory effect commonly leading to death by subsequent bacterial lung infection). Covid is primarily an infection of the blood vessels.
Influenza is commonly caught by the transfer of infectious material from the hand, to the mouth. It is not clear that this is a significant path for covid, but it is also not clear that it is not.
When the covid epidemic spread, there was an assumption that infection would be by the same path as influenza, and a parallel belief that direct respiratory infection was not significant. These beliefs have now been reversed.
(That was partly because the fatality rate for covid was not established: perhaps it was a disease spread by being in the same room, that killed few people: perhaps it was a disease that everybody died of, but spread only by contact)
Mildly obssesive-compulsive hand-washing is still protective against disease in general. Measurement continues to show that. A separate subject, of course, is if that kind of protection against disease is a good thing for the general population.
Dude, (mom, doctor, nurse, teacher voice) “Go wash your hands, right now. I mean it!”
Say what? Typical signs and symptoms of influenza characteristically involve abrupt onset of fever, nonproductive cough, and myalgia. Other common symptoms include including malaise, sore throat, nausea, nasal congestion, and headache. Gastrointestinal symptoms such as vomiting and diarrhea are usually not part of influenza in adults but can occur in 10 to 20 percent of children.
Viral gastroenteritis is certainly a common thing, but the influenza virus is generally not the cause.
Influenza is not commonly the cause of symptomatic viral gastroenteritis (note that ‘itis’ means inflammation: if it’s not symptomatic, it’s not enteritis).
Influenza is a virus that infects epithelial tissue. That is, amongst other things, the surface of your gastro-entric system. It causes, amongst other things, vomiting, and can cause death by dehydration, but that gets little attention, because mostly it doesn’t kill people.
Well, yes, typical signs and symptoms of symptomatic respiratory influenza are respiratory symptoms. That’s a tautology.
It is commonplace to define a disease by its symptoms, but I was making a point about viral infection, not about diagnosis of life-threating symptomatic disease.
I’ll hold your cold brew, Dr. Qad…
Surely you jest. At any rate, stop callling it surely.
There’s still debate on the subject, but disinfecting surfaces and using good hand hygiene to crack down on them fomites is still advised by health authorities, even though the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in this manner appears low, possibly very low.
Are you mixing up Influenza with the stomach “flu”?
I’m going with clean hands, clean life or if you don’t touch germs and nasties with your hands it’s less likely they get inside you.
I didn’t suggest you can’t have GI symptoms, but right from the background section:
Although the main route of human influenza virus infection is respiratory, GI symptoms such as anorexia, diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain are common manifestations [3–12], and may be a hallmark of severe influenza [13–18].
Well, that’s a part I’d probably disagree with. The evidence is that hand washing has a significant protective effect on flu infection, so I’d only be arguing about ‘main’, but even that is not a hill I’d want to die on.
This is largely true. Respiratory viruses are mainly spread through aerosols. That’s how superspreader events happened with SARS-CoV-2. Fomite spread is much less likely. Think about it. These viruses have to encounter receptors on cells through their spike proteins. Floating around in aerosols, they can easily be inhaled where they can encounter cells to infect. On the other hand, viruses have a tendency to stick to surfaces. Once they are stuck, imagine trying to get them on your fingers where they will get stuck again, then up your nose, while still being intact enough to be viable. Some viruses may be able to withstand all that, but studies with SARS-CoV-2 showed very early on that transmission was through aerosols. That’s why Fauci started telling everyone to wear masks as early as April 2020.
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/its-not-just-sars-cov-2-most-respiratory-viruses-spread-aerosols
It’s NOT a gastrointestinal disease; it’s almost always a respiratory one.
Factsheet about seasonal influenza (europa.eu)
Key Facts About Influenza (Flu) | CDC