A month in lockdown – I is for infection

The A-Z blogging challenge is quite straightforward, blog everyday in April, except Sundays, with subjects that follow the alphabet. It’s all a bit of fun. My subject is ‘A month in lock down’.

I is for infection, as that is what we are dealing with, the invasion of an organism’s body tissues by disease-causing agents (according to Wikipedia). A lot of advice from the government and the subsequent media coverage has been on the steps you can take to reduce the spread of the virus. These include sneezing into a hanky or your elbow if you don’t have one on you, washing your hands regularly, washing your clothes and avoiding touching your face. This last one has proved very difficult for many, even the people giving the advice.

The suggestion is that we should wash our hands while singing ‘Happy Birthday’ twice, which should take about twenty seconds. I find myself humming ‘Ode to Joy’ but that’s another story!

What has amazed me and horrified me in equal measures is that the government has to tell us to follow these very basic hygiene rules. Does this mean that large amounts of people don’t normally wash their hands or their clothes? Apparently not if you are to believe what you read on social media.

The best way to reduce the spread of any infection is to wash your hands. Hot water and soap is best, followed by cold water and soap yet even cold water alone can have a significant effect on the number of bacteria and viruses on your hands. The reason the hands are most significant is that we touch everything with them. They are our main physical interface to our world.

Washing your hands is like social distancing in that it reduces the number of active disease-causing agents. The fewer there are the slower the spread of a disease.

Stay safe.