BOISE, Idaho — Go to any grocery store, and you will see many people wearing masks to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. You might also see some wearing gloves.
According to a Central District Health expert, cross-contamination becomes easier when wearing gloves.
“Every surface that we come in contact with has an ability to have something on it that we don’t see, that’s how micro-organisms work,” Brandon Atkins said. “Every day in every walk of life, people are cross-contaminating things that they come in contact with.”
Atkins said that people often forget that you can still spread germs while wearing gloves.
“It’s not like the nitrile gloves or the latex gloves that people are using have anti-microbial resistance to them,” the family and clinic services manager said.
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Atkins added that wearing gloves could over-complicate things.
“The people that I’ve watched in public, it makes me a little alarmed that they are touching and doing everything that they think they can do with a glove, without thinking any differently,” he said.
Atkins said he has seen people wearing gloves doing things like putting on chapstick, texting on their phones, and opening car doors for kids, which does not help protect them from the coronavirus or any other bacteria.
“[Gloves] are like a second skin, but unfortunately, you’re contaminating them just like you would your skin,” Atkins said. “So why put a second skin on when your best method for protecting yourself is to wash your hands appropriately?
“If you do those steps, you will protect yourself better than any other barrier you’re going to put on your hands,” he added.
Atkins recommends that if you do decide to wear gloves to shop, wait until you get into the store to put them on.
After that, sanitize your shopping cart, refrain from touching your clothes or phone, and throw your gloves away when finished.
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