Breaking the chain of infection

It's a pretty difficult time for so many of us.

I'm going to start by stating I'm not a medical expert by any means although in the last 10 months I've spent plenty of time with people who are and learnt through some challenging life experiences which has made me question many things.

This stemmed from getting the flu last year, getting kind of better before my health plummeted, ended up in ICU, three different hospitals five weeks later, having a suspected pituitary tumor removed through my nose, following total adrenal failure. (that's a story for another time). To myself this is about giving back, if someone else can benefit then I've achieved my goal with a little common sense!

The message I wish to share is relative to the ongoing community spread of COVID we are being advised to wash our hands constantly, use alcohol based sanitizer to dehydrate germs on our hands and wear face masks which is great. Hopefully what I have written below will challenge you to be mindful of what you touch, maintain good hand hygiene and try not to touch your face.... to keep you and your loved ones healthier.

But how do we break the chain of infection?

I feel there is a missing link; it's stated 80% of all infections are spread by 'us' touching surfaces then our face. Studies show that we touch our face on average 16 or more times per hour. It doesn't sound like a big deal!

Say you work 8hrs a day and touch your face 16 times an hour on average so that's like 128 times in a work day, you say so what? Touching our face, is a normal human behavior built into our DNA, the problem is touching 'things' others have touched/contaminated then us touching our mucous zones; eyes, nose and or mouth. When you look at the numbers it makes you think.

A simplified example of a small workplace of 10 people, where we touch common surfaces and have the possibility of communicating germs;

• Say we spend 8 hours at work, go to the bathroom 4 times a day, use the kitchenette 3 times a day, and on average touch our face 16 times an hour for those 8 hours. Some simple math.
• (10 x 4 x 3 x 16 x 8) = 15,360 Touch Points WOW!
• Of course you washed your hands each time you have used the bathroom, (4) and probably used sanitizer (6) so lets divide 15,360 by 10 = 1,536 times you have still made contact with a Touch Point in an 8-hour period.

So typically in a work period you have potentially touched your face 128 times where you have touched other surfaces somewhere between 1,536-15,360 times….

Of the 1,536 Touch Points how many times have you made contact with a surface that may be contaminated then rubbed your nose, eyes, or brushed your hand across your mouth all-natural human reactions? It starts to put things into perspective.

We are in this together whether we like it or not, and it's not going to change anytime soon, we need to be mindful of what we touch and in particular touching our face.

Stay safe everyone