During the time of the pandemic, you know that you have to run out for essentials such as groceries and medication. Sure it is ideal to lean on grocery delivery but that is so overused right now that it could take days for you to get your groceries delivered. If you take the right precautions to stay healthy and to not risk spreading the virus, then you can go grocery shopping.
You are doing that my social distancing, wearing a mask, and gloves. But did you know that the way you are using your gloves may be incorrect? Let’s go over 10 ways that you may be wearing your gloves the wrong way.
#10 – You Are Removing Your Gloves Incorrectly
If you take off your gloves by taking one glove off with your clean hand, then taking the other one off with your other clean hand, then you are contaminating your hands. It defeats the purpose of wearing gloves since you are touching them. Pull them off at your wrist instead and as you take them off, invert them so you are not touching the contaminated parts.
#9 – You Touch Your Face
You know not to touch your face during the pandemic when you are out. If you are wearing protective gloves and yet you touch your face with them, then you are putting contaminants at your face. This is a sure way to get infected. If you have an itch on your face, use your arm to scratch instead.
#8 – You Are Eating While Wearing Gloves
Long gone are the days when you can grab a bite to eat for takeout at your favorite restaurant and to eat it in your car. You have to wear gloves when you go to your restaurant to get takeout. Why eat it when your gloves are on in your car? Because that is a sure way to make you ingest the contaminants. The best thing to do is to head home. Take your gloves off and dispose of them at home safely. Wash your hands thoroughly. Put the takeout bag on the floor, and with clean hands enjoy it.
#7 – You Don’t Wash Your Hands After Taking Your Gloves Off
You may think that since you wore gloves and took them off properly that handwashing is not necessary. It is always necessary. Even if you took your gloves off carefully, you may have touched other items such as your keys and phone which could be easily contaminated. Always wash your hands even if you think they are clean. They probably are not!
#6 – You Touch Everything
The purpose of wearing gloves is to keep your hands protected from germs and other contaminants when you are out. However, this does not mean to get careless and touch literally everything that is around. You could end up with far more contaminants on your gloves than you would have otherwise and there is a risk you can be in contact with it anyway.
#5 – Your Washing Your Gloves
Many people are hesitant to dispose of their gloves due to the fact they are not easy to find. However, they are really meant to be thrown out. The gloves are made of latex and many solutions can ruin the material. If you absolutely must wash your gloves due to the fact you are worried about a shortage, then use soap and water as you would with your hands for 20 seconds.
#4 – You Wear Your Same Gloves For Too Long
If you are out for a while which you should not be during this pandemic, you should be changing your gloves after wearing the same ones for several hours. If you don’t, you could easily be spreading plenty of contaminants in other areas of your body. You don’t even want to imagine that. Wash your gloves at the very least with soap and water.
#3 – You Touch Your Phones, Keys, And Wallet
Sometimes there is no way around avoiding to touch your personal items when you are wearing gloves. You have to take your debit or credit card out of the wallet and have to touch the keypad of the machine. But you don’t want to start touching your keys and phone if you can help it. Dispose of your gloves in the garbage by the grocery store for instance, then use hand sanitizer, and then you can touch your personal items. With that said, you will want to clean your wallet and debit or credit cards as well with soap and water.
#2 – You Rub Hand Sanitizer While Wearing Gloves
Hand sanitizer is made with alcohol which can degrade your gloves. If you use hand sanitizer if you are wearing your gloves, you will end up ruining them and they will not be useful at all. Don’t use hand sanitizer until after you are done with your gloves.
#1 – You Don’t Wear Gloves At All
Some people don’t even wear gloves at a grocery store or any place where they must be. That is one sure way to get sick. Even if you have the intension of washing your hands when you get home. You will contaminate yourself easily otherwise so wear gloves.
Stay safe and stay home as much as you can otherwise!
