UPDATES By Bracha Kolman
Back to Square One? Studies show hand washing has returned to pre-pandemic levels During the COVID-19 days, we got used to the “wash your hands” mantra—and to washing our hands too. A June 2020 study by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that Americans said they were lathering up twice as often as they did in 2019. But what’s happening now? It seems we’ve all quickly reverted to our old habits. It only took four months for doctors, nurses, techs, and cleaning staff at hospitals to drop back to a 51.5% daily handwashing compliance rate, according to a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine. And a nationally representative survey done in January 30
WELLSPRING / MAY 2021
found that only 57% of Americans said they were washing their hands six or more times a day—such as after using the bathroom, before eating, or after returning from a trip outside the home. That’s a significant drop from the 78% of people who said they were washing hands frequently when the survey was conducted in the early days of the pandemic. With our own handwashing guidelines in place as frum Yidden, we’ll be maintaining our 100% compliance even when this pandemic becomes a distant memory, but it seems the antibacterial soaps are taking a backseat sooner than we could have imagined.
