Ok, this is gonna come off as preachy but I'm going to say it anyway because it's important. I am the carer for an immuno-compromised pensioner (my mum) and this stuff is my daily so it bothers me a lot when I see misinformation everywhere.
I realise hand washing sounds ridiculous, but it GENUINELY is the best way to ensure the containment of mass spread of germs. In fact, it could be reasonably argued that a lack of it has inevitably brought this novel virus into the public eye because it spread through the poor hygiene of the human race by exploiting people's seeming inability to keep clean. Think of all the surfaces you touch in a day, then imagine how many times a day you see people eating and touching something out in public, how many times little kids stick their fingers in their mouths and then touch everything on the bus or the train. Now imagine the germs in every day life being spread like that without the threat of a pandemic...this is how people get colds and flu normally. It's just amplified when it's a novel virus on the run.
As for the connections to animals, there is literally no indication whatsoever that it passes from us back to animals, the weak positive found ON (key word here) the dog in Japan was more than likely a direct result of it being touched by it's infected owner or having picked up the virus when out as opposed to the dog itself being infected. The WHO report's from the last week or so have repeatedly said there is no evidence to suggest human to animal transfer beyond contact and most governments have stressed the need to wash your hands before and after handling your pets not just for the animals sake but because they don't want you catching additional infections on top of covid19 because your immune system will already be stressed.
In fact, that is literally why the use of anti-bacterial cleaning products is being recommended. It's not just about killing covid19 but making sure that if you DO catch it, you don't get other things while your body is trying to fight it off. Which, neatly, leads me to the OVER use of anti-bacterial hand washes (not household cleaners), which can, ironically, do you no favours because it runs the risk of stripping the oils from your skin enough to open up micro wounds on your hands, which can lead to other infections getting into the blood stream. Ever got really dry, flaky skin from washing your hands a lot in liquid soap? Yeah, that's why. In all honesty, sometimes the old ways are the best, and in this instance, bars of soap do the job beautifully, stress your skin less because they don't contain ethanol, and are infinitely cheaper. They also have the added bonus of making washing your hands take longer in order to get up the lather, which helps to ensure you're thoroughly cleaning them, not just dipping and dashing.
If you want to go all out, cut your nails short too. You'd be amazed at the germs that get trapped beneath long nails! Like holy crap it's gross! They're also harder to clean properly during a standard 20 second hand wash. And then, there's the all important drying. Improperly dried hands are germ magnets. You touch anything with damp hands and the germs on the object you touched are now your germs, congratulations! You can't dry hands on an already damp towel, you can't dry hands in 5 seconds or less. Washing and drying your hands properly takes a minute total.
So there you are, I realise most people ignore this stuff because it sounds utterly implausible, but take it from someone who has to use these measures every day anyway, it does work, it does make a difference and it is worth it.
