Don't wear gloves shopping or out and about - HSE infection control experts warn

drunkmonkey

About time they called, it's a filthy practice and I'll go as far as saying if you don't see the checkout girl clean her hands before touching your items tell her to shove them. Gloves are no substitute for basic hygine.

HSE infection control experts said they are not recommending using gloves while doing shopping or when you are out and about.

If there are bugs on your gloves those bugs often end up on your hands when you take the gloves off and from there they can very easily end up in your mouth, nose and eyes.

Prof Martin Cormican, HSE lead on infection control and antibiotic use, said: ”A lot of people are using disposable gloves in everyday life. So, one of our key messages this year for hand hygiene day is that we do not recommend using gloves while doing your shopping or when you are out and about.

https://m.independent.ie/world-news/coronavirus/dont-wear-gloves-shopping-or-out-and-about-hse-infection-control-experts-warn-39179163.html

Fann Linn

drunkmonkey wrote: »

About time they called, it's a filthy practice and I'll go as far as saying if you don't see the checkout girl clean her hands before touching your items tell her to shove them. Gloves are no substitute for basic hygine.

HSE infection control experts said they are not recommending using gloves while doing shopping or when you are out and about.

If there are bugs on your gloves those bugs often end up on your hands when you take the gloves off and from there they can very easily end up in your mouth, nose and eyes.

Prof Martin Cormican, HSE lead on infection control and antibiotic use, said: ”A lot of people are using disposable gloves in everyday life. So, one of our key messages this year for hand hygiene day is that we do not recommend using gloves while doing your shopping or when you are out and about.

https://m.independent.ie/world-news/coronavirus/dont-wear-gloves-shopping-or-out-and-about-hse-infection-control-experts-warn-39179163.html

Same HSE that couldn't make a decision on wearing masks definitively.

ednwireland

last time at the supermarket people behind me wearing gloves and holding purses and car keys. bet they didnt disinfect them back at the car

topmanamillion

People's use of gloves is a complete joke.
I've yet to see anyone wearing them appropriately.

In shops, they're touching trolleys, shelves, counters and any other surface imaginable. Then invariably the phone comes out of their pocket, up to their face or they just touch their face directly with the glove.

Good handwashing technique is immeasurably more useful than gloves which are just giving people a false sense of security.
Wash your hands before going to the shop or other public areas.
A bottle of hand gel in the car. And wash the hands again when you get home.
Keep your dirty hand away from your face and hair.

Leave the phone in your pocket for essential use when out and about.
And give it a good wipe when you get home and any other time you think it might need one.

It's not rocket science.

TheChizler

Fianceé saw someone eating a packet of crisps with gloves outside Dunnes the other day...

Stark

Fann Linn wrote: »

Same HSE that couldn't make a decision on wearing masks definitively.

Yes but they're right in this case.

argolis

TheChizler wrote: »

Fianceé saw someone eating a packet of crisps with gloves outside Dunnes the other day...

Salt and covidegar flavour?

biko

Gloves are good, but they don't protect against stupid.

Imo, the best thing about them for general people is to make them realise to not touch their face/eyes/etc

drunkmonkey

Fann Linn wrote: »

Same HSE that couldn't make a decision on wearing masks definitively.

If they don't know how to use gloves you can take it they don't know how to use a mask properly either. Hence the HSE are slow to recommend due to the hightened risk of disease they can pose.

I have gloves and hand sanitizer with me any time I go out. If I'm going into a shop etc, I'll put on the gloves and clean them with the sanitizer before touching anything. The stay on my hands until I'm ready to dispose of them and wash my hands. I sanitise them regularly while wearing them. Once done with them, they are disposed of and my hands washed.

Ignacius

topmanamillion wrote: »

People's use of gloves is a complete joke.
I've yet to see anyone wearing them appropriately.

In shops, they're touching trolleys, shelves, counters and any other surface imaginable. Then invariably the phone comes out of their pocket, up to their face or they just touch their face directly with the glove.

Good handwashing technique is immeasurably more useful than gloves which are just giving people a false sense of security.
Wash your hands before going to the shop or other public areas.
A bottle of hand gel in the car. And wash the hands again when you get home.
Keep your dirty hand away from your face and hair.

Leave the phone in your pocket for essential use when out and about.
And give it a good wipe when you get home and any other time you think it might need one.

It's not rocket science.

If you put hand sanitizer on before and after putting the gloves on, what is the problem wearing them?
Just because some people are using them incorrectly does not mean everybody is.
I don’t use the phone unnecessarily. One thing i can say for sure is that I am way more likely not to touch my face with gloves on than without them.
Also I have not seen many places to wash your hands in the supermarkets so using them once a week might not be a terrible idea.
Nothing wrong with gloves if they are used right.

TheChizler

Deleted User wrote: »

I have gloves and hand sanitizer with me any time I go out. If I'm going into a shop etc, I'll put on the gloves and clean them with the sanitizer before touching anything. The stay on my hands until I'm ready to dispose of them and wash my hands. I sanitise them regularly while wearing them. Once done with them, they are disposed of and my hands washed.

Why wear gloves at all though if you're washing your hands anyway? It's not like you're a nurse going from patient to patient?

Stark

Virus sticks more easily to gloves than it does to skin. Leave the gloves at home and wash/sanitize your hands instead.

owlbethere

I use gloves but I use them in conjunction with handwashing and now sanitizers too because the shops have them on the wall at doors. I'm not using the gloves thinking I can get away without handwashing. Also before I used to take a big handbag out with me, I'm now limiting the amount of stuff I take out with me. I narrowed it down to a neck wallet/pouch with my card and that's it. In a pocket, I will have a clean nappy sack/bag with clean gloves. I know how to take my gloves off to keep them virus free, just in case I get any virus on my gloves.

A few weeks ago, I had an accident and my two hands became wounded with open wounds. Thankfully they weren't deep and I administered first aid cleaned dirt out of my hands. My hands were sore. I went through copious amounts of boxes of plasters because every time I washed my hands the plasters came off. I did my bit and I limited my time going out in public. I was glad to have gloves during that time and use them too when I went to a shop. The plasters never lasted long with the handwashing I was doing. I also have broken skin and cracks from all the handwashing I'm doing. I'm paranoid about wounds and skin cracks and I'm glad to have gloves to use. I didn't do a run on them by the way. I bought a large box in the pharmacy last year and I'm nearly coming to an end with them now.

Dymo

TheChizler wrote: »

Why wear gloves at all though if you're washing your hands anyway? It's not like you're a nurse going from patient to patient?

Because the virus can lodge on handles of trolleys, handrails or steel. If a person is wearing rubber gloves that creates a barrier that stops the virus can getting in contact with your skin.

rob316

Gloves only work if you change them regularly like they do in a medical setting. I see people opening the car door, handling there keys, phone, touching there face with the same gloves they just used shopping. Just sanitize or wash your hands.

TheChizler

Dymo wrote: »

Because the virus can lodge on handles of trolleys, handrails or steel. If a person is wearing rubber gloves that creates a barrier that stops the virus can getting in contact with your skin.

Ok, but unless you have an open wound why is that a problem if you're handwashing after?

Coralcoras

I’ve seen people rummage through their purses with gloved hands...really makes me wonder if people feel the virus gets through the skin layer. That, and thoughtlessness, are the only rational explanation.

RTÉ could do an advert whereby the virus is visually represented as red paint or something...touch your face/phone/purse..paint/virus on your face/phone/purse. Scratch your arse..big red patch there too as you walk away..fade scene

Harry Palmr

Yep I quickly realised that gloves were more likely to spread coronavirus than contain it.

Wash hands before leaving house, use santiser at shop, use santiser in car, wash hands after unbagging. If you have gloves make sure they are use once type and only use once.

Juwwi

drunkmonkey wrote: »

About time they called, it's a filthy practice and I'll go as far as saying if you don't see the checkout girl clean her hands before touching your items tell her to shove them /quote]

I've never seen a checkout girl use hand sanitizer yet but was thinking the same that they should be .

I saw the guy who collects the trolleys in Tesco car park light up a cigarette last week with his gloves on wheeling a trolley .

Stark

Dymo wrote: »

Because the virus can lodge on handles of trolleys, handrails or steel. If a person is wearing rubber gloves that creates a barrier that stops the virus can getting in contact with your skin.

Your skin is a barrier. The virus gets in through mucus membranes (eyes, nose, mouth). Gloves or no gloves, the key is not touching your face until you've washed.

jackofalltrades

Hence the HSE are slow to recommend due to the hightened risk of disease they can pose.

The HSE are slow to recommend masks because it will make them look even more incompetent and irrelevant.
The CMO has already floated the idea of masks being used when restrictions are eased.
They'll slowly do a U-turn on the matter while repeating the "worries about supplies for frontline workers" mantra.

billyhead

TheChizler wrote: »

Why wear gloves at all though if you're washing your hands anyway? It's not like you're a nurse going from patient to patient?

I need to wear gloves no matter what. The stuff that is used in stores is made from bleach and as a sufferer of dermatitis my hands react badly and flare up.

TheChizler

billyhead wrote: »

I need to wear gloves no matter what. The stuff that is used in stores is made from bleach and as a sufferer of dermatitis my hands react badly and flare up.

You sure it's not just alcohol? I doubt stores are using bleach as hand sanitiser. Trolley cleaner sure. Fair enough if you can't sanitise your hands directly or have cuts as another poster said, but there can't be too many people that have that reason.

screamer

I wear gloves but I use hand sanitizer on my hands and on the gloves when I’m back at the car. I wrap my phone in cling film and take it off when I get home and bank cards, keys etc get a dose of hand sanitizer. Not everyone is a ****ing idiot in this country, but our government think we are, hence our nanny state is alive and well.

TheChizler

TheChizler wrote: »

Why wear gloves at all though if you're washing your hands anyway?

I wear gloves until such time as I can wash my hands, at which point I dispose of the gloves. Sorry, I thought that was clear as I stated it twice

Ignacius

rob316 wrote: »

Gloves only work if you change them regularly like they do in a medical setting. I see people opening the car door, handling there keys, phone, touching there face with the same gloves they just used shopping. Just sanitize or wash your hands.

This is again talking about people using them incorrectly.

Some people hurt themselves cutting avocados. Does that mean we should ban cutting avocados?
I saw a guy put a knife in his mouth having his dinner today so should knives should be banned too?
Just because some people are using single use gloves incorrectly does not mean everybody else should be vilified for using them.

Wibbs

He's right about gloves to a large degree, but

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Prof Martin Cormican, HSE lead on infection control and antibiotic use, said:

the same Cormican also stated with great confidence in early March that asymptomatic spread from a covid contact you were living with was of very low risk and you should go about your life as normally as possible nearly a month after the WHO flagged it as an infection route and both medical journals and mainstream media had reported specific cases. If that yahoo told me the sky was blue I'd look out a window to confirm.

Away With The Fairies

Who is advising the government? Their 23 page document on easing restrictions in phases and for old people
-designated hours in shops and provide gloves and wear face coverings
-for visiting them in their homes, wear gloves, face coverings and maintain a 2m distance

Like seriously I know gloves are useless and here's the HSE infection control saying it... So who the hell wrote that 23 page document... I thought they would at least get advice from the experts but clearly not.

shaveAbullock

TheChizler wrote: »

You sure it's not just alcohol? I doubt stores are using bleach as hand sanitiser. Trolley cleaner sure. Fair enough if you can't sanitise your hands directly or have cuts as another poster said, but there can't be too many people that have that reason.

I'm sure it is alcohol as there is a very distinct smell of alcohol from it.
Alcohol will make your hands very dry, so for some skin conditions it could be harmful.

Probably best to use it anyway though and mosturise your hands when you return home.

johnnyskeleton

TheChizler wrote: »

Why wear gloves at all though if you're washing your hands anyway? It's not like you're a nurse going from patient to patient?

Repeatedly washing your hands with disinfectant can be bad for the skin.

Also, for some people, wearing the gloves acts as a physical reminder to be careful not to touch things.

endofrainbow

I think I'm more concerned about her being referred to as the 'check out GIRL'....

Turtwig

Wibbs wrote: »

He's right about gloves to a large degree, but the same Cormican also stated with great confidence in early March that asymptomatic spread from a covid contact you were living with was of very low risk and you should go about your life as normally as possible nearly a month after the WHO flagged it as an infection route and both medical journals and mainstream media had reported specific cases. If that yahoo told me the sky was blue I'd look out a window to confirm.

This.
What I didn't like about it was he answered it in a very technical PR way. He actually didn't state anything incorrect. The risk was very low but that was because the individuals chance of coming into contact with a covid carrier was very low.

It was obvious that he was trying to reassure people but by conflating the two he did very much signal false information to the public. Even if it was technically correct. It just didn't sit comfortable with me.

SCOOP 64

i have a box of 100 disposal surgical gloves in the car which i have always used to go shopping, new pair every time i get out of the car to go in anywhere, now on the news it saids best not to ware them at all just hand washing will do ,so i have been doing it wrong all time:pac:

odyssey06

Turtwig wrote: »

This.
What I didn't like about it was he answered it in a very technical PR way. He actually didn't state anything incorrect. The risk was very low but that was because the individuals chance of coming into contact with a covid carrier was very low.
It was obvious that he was trying to reassure people but by conflating the two he did very much signal false information to the public. Even if it was technically correct. It just didn't sit comfortable with me.

Was it even correct at the time? Dubious.
Community transmisison had already started to occur at that point.

drunkmonkey

SCOOP 64 wrote: »

i have a box of 100 disposal surgical gloves in the car which i have always used to go shopping, new pair every time i get out of the car to go in anywhere, now on the news it saids best not to ware them at all just hand washing will do ,so i have been doing it wrong all time:pac:

Yea pretty much no need to do what you've been doing. I've some hand santiser spray in the drinks holder of the car. Give it a squirt before I go in as don't want to touch the ones in a store, when I get back in, I clean them again, rub the door handle where I closed it and once around the steering wheel and off I go.

What's really bugging me is if I buy a can or something the person wearing gloves usually grabs the can by the top where my lips will be going so have to sanatize that as well.
Got a can there earlier, girl was cleaning with her gloves, made one guy a roll with the gloves then came served me with them. She's kinda cute so I let it slide but gave it a good dousing with sanatizer before drinking it.
Should be a whistleblower line for breaches of cop on.

riffmongous

johnnyskeleton wrote: »

Repeatedly washing your hands with disinfectant can be bad for the skin.

Exactly, it'll save your skin a lot of stress and allow you to sanitise more frequently if you wear them and actually just act like you weren't and follow all the usual guidelines... but yeah, I am sure the vast majority of people using them aren't doing this

Turtwig

odyssey06 wrote: »

Was it even correct at the time? Dubious.
Community transmisison had already started to occur at that point.

It had but the risk to any random person based on all the best information available to them at the time was low. It may have been higher than they originally thought but that's another matter.

Feisar

I’ve started wearing gloves going to do the shopping:

Wash hands
Drive to supermarket
Gloves on
Do shopping - absolutely no phone/face touching
Dump gloves on exiting
Drive home
Wash hands

I don’t see how gloving up isn’t a help.

drunkmonkey

Feisar wrote: »

I’ve started wearing gloves going to do the shopping:

Wash hands
Drive to supermarket
Gloves on
Do shopping - absolutely no phone/face touching
Dump gloves on exiting
Drive home
Wash hands

I don’t see how gloving up isn’t a help.

So your not washing your hands or sanatizing them after taking off your gloves and going straight to the car, that's a paddlin. You've broke one of the golden rules.

topmanamillion

Dymo wrote: »

Because the virus can lodge on handles of trolleys, handrails or steel. If a person is wearing rubber gloves that creates a barrier that stops the virus can getting in contact with your skin.

Covid can't pass transdermially, if it could we'd all be cocooning and housebound getting our supplies air dropped once a month.
This sort of misinformation is why gloves and masks are absolutely pointless in the general population.

If the hands touch the mouthpiece of a mask it's contaminated and useless. If the mask doesn't seal to the bridge of the nose and around the face, it's nothing more than a wearable tissue and offers zero protection to the wearer.
If the mask becomes damp, it's useless for the wearer and people they come into contact with.

Even with mass advertising and education, the fact is there aren't enough masks for everyone in the country to use and dispose of them when they should.

There's a reason there's no uniform opinion on masks and gloves from national health authorities around the world. Some are willing to go down the "ah sure it's no harm wearing it if ye want" road others don't want to bullsh1t people.

Andrew00

Gloves don't work. Just wipe ur hands with anti bacterial wipes or gel when you get in the car.

In shops the staff could have the same pair of gloves on for over an hour

Wibbs

Turtwig wrote: »

This.
What I didn't like about it was he answered it in a very technical PR way. He actually didn't state anything incorrect. The risk was very low but that was because the individuals chance of coming into contact with a covid carrier was very low.

It was obvious that he was trying to reassure people but by conflating the two he did very much signal false information to the public. Even if it was technically correct. It just didn't sit comfortable with me.

Actually T if you check out the video he directly mentions living with a known covid contact and that it's low risk and they're not shedding enough virus until they start showing symptoms like and I jest not a "runny nose and sore throat". Now if he'd said this in January fair enough, we're learning about this pox on a near daily basis, but he was coming out with that howler in March, a month after the WHO warned about the risks and three months after sore throat and runny nose was known to be down the list of symptoms for this dose. That's our top "expert". Jesus. Then again another one was saying t'is only grand to visit the elderly in old folks homes not too long ago after we all saw the devastation in Italy as far as the elderly were concerned and where the first confirmed case of our own epidemic was found in such a home. That orange gobsh1te Trump ignores his experts, too often we would have been better served by following his lead, well with actual common sense attached.

Anyone that wears gloves must subconsciously (or consciously) think that the virus is absorbed through the skin. It is literally the only reason that they would be of any use. No glove wearer here can come up with a reason as to why wearing gloves are better than washing your hands with sanitiser and / or soap. In fact my understanding is that the virus lasts longer on rubber than on skin. Wearing gloves is just ridiculous, and given that most people don’t know how to wear them properly (ie. briefly and dispose of them) I would steer clear of anyone wearing gloves

Wibbs

topmanamillion wrote: »

Covid can't pass transdermially, if it could we'd all be cocooning and housebound getting our supplies air dropped once a month.
This sort of misinformation is why gloves and masks are absolutely pointless in the general population.

If the hands touch the mouthpiece of a mask it's contaminated and useless. If the mask doesn't seal to the bridge of the nose and around the face, it's nothing more than a wearable tissue and offers zero protection to the wearer.
If the mask becomes damp, it's useless for the wearer and people they come into contact with.

Even with mass advertising and education, the fact is there aren't enough masks for everyone in the country to use and dispose of them when they should.

There's a reason there's no uniform opinion on masks and gloves from national health authorities around the world. Some are willing to go down the "ah sure it's no harm wearing it if ye want" road others don't want to bullsh1t people.

No, again you completely miss the actual point about masks in an indoor shared public space. It's not about protection for the wearer, it is about protection from the wearer to another. Even a wet mask on someone's face reduces the spread of droplets from them to others.

This graphic illustrates this more clearly.



The anti mask thing has been politically led from a point of view of earlier supply issues of PPE to frontline health workers, it has little to do with the science and experiences of nations who brought them in, all of whom have lower cases than us and significantly lower deaths. And many if not most nations who also were against their use in the community are now rethinking that, especially as they get their countries back up and running. The US surgeon general went from "they're useless!" to "here's how you make an effective homemade one" in a matter of weeks.

topmanamillion

topmanamillion wrote: »

There's a reason there's no uniform opinion on masks and gloves from national health authorities around the world. Some are willing to go down the "ah sure it's no harm wearing it if ye want" road others don't want to bullsh1t people.

That’s not quite true. There’s a pretty uniform view on face coverings (rather than surgical masks, which are meant to be one time use and can’t be washed and should be prioritised for health workers). And face coverings will for sure form part of our future, when in crowded places like transport

odyssey06

Turtwig wrote: »

It had but the risk to any random person based on all the best information available to them at the time was low. It may have been higher than they originally thought but that's another matter.

I have to say, I don't have much confidence in experts who make public pronouncements on such inadequate 'best' information.

The 'best' information they had available did not support the weight he put on his statement. They weren't actively looking for the virus in the community, they were waiting for it to come to them so to speak.

I distinguish between 'active' and 'passive' statements by experts as in "We have no evidence of X" versus "We did a study Y and it showed X was not occurring". I am very dubious of the passive statements and experts who trade in same.

Turtwig

Wibbs wrote: »

Actually T if you check out the video he directly mentions living with a known covid contact and that it's low risk and they're not shedding enough virus until they start showing symptoms like and I jest not a "runny nose and sore throat". Now if he'd said this in January fair enough, we're learning about this pox on a near daily basis, but he was coming out with that howler in March, a month after the WHO warned about the risks and three months after sore throat and runny nose was known to be down the list of symptoms for this dose. That's our top "expert". Jesus. Then again another one was saying t'is only grand to visit the elderly in old folks homes not too long ago after we all saw the devastation in Italy as far as the elderly were concerned and where the first confirmed case of our own epidemic was found in such a home. That orange gobsh1te Trump ignores his experts, too often we would have been better served by following his lead, well with actual common sense attached.

Fck me!
This is why I've little confidence for the health and safety they'll publish for employers to follow. It'll be a crap shoot when people have to go back to work.

Regarding masks. Effective medical grade ones need to be preserved for health care staff and vulnerable individuals. Everyone else wears a mask to protect other people not themselves.
The confusion arises on that latter part when past studies, pre covid, have shown masks encourage riskier behavior. My position for now is everyone should wear something and priority groups should wear the proper masks. This has flip flopped a lot in the past eight weeks.

JJJJNR

are they fn crazy instead of telling people to stop wearing gloves they should be educating people on how to properly use them and dispose of them saying its not necessary is crazy and is exactly how a second wave will happen.

Corona viruses remain active on hard surfaces for 9 days, people are not showing symptoms and some people are, it only takes one person not wearing gloves to start a cluster, its too premature to be stigmatising people for taking care of themselves.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGBAoaV__Do

odyssey06

Wibbs wrote: »

No, again you completely miss the actual point about masks in an indoor shared public space. It's not about protection for the wearer, it is about protection from the wearer to another. Even a wet mask on someone's face reduces the spread of droplets from them to others.

I wonder, similarly, if someone has the virus, let's say an asymptomatic carrier would wearing gloves while shopping or a bus reduce the amount of virus they shed onto surfaces \ objects they touch?

BrianD3

Deleted User wrote: »

Anyone that wears gloves must subconsciously (or consciously) think that the virus is absorbed through the skin. It is literally the only reason that they would be of any use. No glove wearer here can come up with a reason as to why wearing gloves are better than washing your hands with sanitiser and / or soap.

That's assuming that hand sanitiser and soap are available before touching a known clean surface. If you can wear gloves in a "dirty" area (e.g a shop) and then remove them before touching your car keys, car door handle, steering wheel etc. then that is useful. I wear gloves when shopping and have a routine using gloves and have dirty and clean parts of the car..

Also, hands with gloves on can be sanitised with bleach. Bare hands - not so much. For much of this crisis hand sanitiser has not been readily available whereas bleach is readily available.