National Handwashing Awareness Week

 This year I am celebrating interesting weeks throughout the year.  This week is National Handwashing Awareness Week.

I was unable to locate the history behind this week.  I'm thinking this was started in 2020 because of the pandemic as a reminder to wash your hands.

This celebration is set during the winter months when colds and flu run rampant and serves as a gentle reminder to always wash your hands.  

80% of diseases can be transferred by touch.

Washing your hands a few times per day can reduce diarrhea rates by 40%.

Touching your face can spread sickness, pneumonia, a cold and the flu.

The most important times to wash your hands are before and after making food and after using the bathroom.

Less than 75% of women and less than 50% of men wash their hands after the bathroom.

The ideal amount of time to wash hands is 30 seconds (but 15 seconds ok).

Most bacteria on our hands are underneath our fingernails.  Always make sure to clean under them.

Studies show that people who wash their hands use fewer sick days

Are you as grossed out as I am?  

By the way, I'm one of the people who wash their hands often.  Maybe a little too much.  

Ok, let's get through the rest of this, shall we?

How to observe #NationalHandwashingWeek

Make a point to wash your hands several times per day.  Yea, after reading those statistics above, I think you will be washing your hands after reading this post.  

And posting to social media might be a great idea to remind your friends and family to wash their hands.