outbreak! (ebola, sars, coronavirus, etc)

Andy Cuomo's speechifying on the virus is nearly as dumb as the Grifter's

sorry to recap, but, just to check my assumptions as I understand them (not very far):

hand-washing is good;
just plain soap is fine as it breaks down the lipid coating around the virus (apparently);
so no particular need for antibacterial soaps AIUI as it's a virus not a bacterium and they're harsh on skin, kill good bacteria too, and may promote resistance among bacteria (bad)...

...so, just a bar of soap or generic squirty hand soap, then. but - and this might be a weird question - are all shop-bought bars of soap approximately equal? If I buy a cheap soap or a fancy colourful perfumed one or one which is sold for its skincare properties rather than its actual cleaning abilities, am I getting a less good clean, or is soap such a basic simple thing that any soap is good, just wash for longer and more thoroughly?

(I note that something like Dove doesn't even call itself "soap" any more, at least in the UK it's now a "beauty cream bar" which leaves you "looking and feeling beautiful" but doesn't mention "clean", but maybe I shouldn't read anything into that?)

my longwindedness prob makes me sound panicked, I'm fine (more worried about shortages etc than the disease for myself, though more of a worry for some older/chronically ill relatives + other loved ones) - but I'm running out of soap and thought it would be useful to know if there's something I should be looking for when I go to buy more

so please don't anyone else panic just because I'm a windbag

I think any soap is ok. It's the scrubbing that is important, and soap (any soap) helps loosen particles on your hands. And from his buzzfeed piece a couple of years ago, so pre-panic: (https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/carolinekee/lets-settle-the-hand-sanitizer-versus-hand-washing-debate):

You might've heard that you shouldn't use hand sanitizer because it kills all of the good bacteria on your hands, which could be bad for your health because these bacteria help protect you. "Sure, it does kill the good bacteria, but there is no evidence that this actually leads to any adverse health effects, and the good bacteria will repopulate immediately if you just touch your arms or your hair or another part of your body," said Reynolds.

it's ok to use hand sanitizer but it's much more important to wash your hands regularly. you can go through life without ever using hand sanitizer.

Hand sanitizer is good. The awful perfume smell of this floral hand sanitizer has prevented me from touching my face, and has ruined a highly caloric meal for me.

I will never stop touching my face

i also refuse to stop touching wins' face

Isn't there some disgusting-tasting stuff you can apply to stop kids biting their nails?

I'm a lifelong nail chewer whose parents tried bitter stuff, hot stuff, almost every available* aversion therapy — none of it worked.

*they didn't try putting shit on my nails, though they threatened it

I’m finding hope in the thought that our short attention spans will mediate any panic, even if panic is justifiable. Maybe something really dumb or outrageous will happen to distract us!

I tried the disgusting tasting stuff on myself, two different times in my life. Both times I ended up getting used to the disgusting taste

I am disgusting

look out the window!!

*runs to window*

I am sure most people have seen these recently but if you have not look up how to wash hands properly. I never knew until this past week! And I have not seen anyone doing it that was as well. I love it. It's so methodical.

and I have seen it a couple of places now about how people have really dirty, neglected thumbs.

they taught us that when I worked in a restaurant. guaranteed nobody was doing it though.

also good luck getting men to wash their hands after touching their cocks in a crowded men's room at a sporting event.

though as my good friend defended it, "I don't have COVID-19 on my cock!"

iirc that happened on this very thread a few days ago

also good luck getting men to wash their hands after touching their cocks in a crowded men's room at a sporting event.

wow i'm never going to a sports game again

btw your genitals tend to acquire bacteria and you will probably touch somebody else at some point in the day, wash your fucking hands imo

the degree to which men try to justify not washing their hands after peeing is exhausting

it's usually "but the sink is all the way over there, and I'm missing the game!"

the staff at the Louvre today voted to exercise their « droit de retrait », that's to say their legal right not to work when they judge their working conditions to be sufficiently and imminently grave. so the museum didn't open today. tomorrow the workers will hold a further meeting on this and decide for how long they'll stop working, under another legal health provision.

any opportunity I take to wash hands, I always take it. partially because I hate my hands feeling grimy and partially because I know everyone else is disgusting.

maybe they should put out a new general warning about not touching your children with your dick hands.

can I commission a Karl Malone to do that ASAP?

nice that the Louvre is exercising more caution than say the US Public Health Service.

xp after 36 wandering years, I have found a purpose

xp well, these were workers at the Louvre, the ticket agents and guards etc., not the admins in the government. the gov closed the Salon de l'Agriculture today, an event I normally go to each year but was too lazy this year. the idea in France is to get ahead of the spread enough so that people hospitalized for flu will be discharged by the time people start needing en masse to be hospitalized for covid-19. even buying a couple of weeks will help because the flu season is almost over.

What percentage of men do you reckon wash their hands after going to the bathroom? Gauging from public toilets I would reckon 10-15%

i don't really pay attention to what other people are doing in the bathroom but i feel like i would notice if it was really that low

Yeah idk where you're pissin if I see a guy go straight from urinal to door I go 'hm'

Where I work the bigger problem is guys not giving thenselves more than a token 5 second scrub

I always assumed there was fecal transmission with all viruses? I guess I was wrong since they are now confirming it for covid.

i'd heard that about Hep A before, and of course norovirus but there are a LOT of diseases that spread fecal-orally from protozoans and bacteria.

then there's the people that wash for a few seconds and don't dry. just grab the filthy door handle with their wet hands. drying is important!

My mom will just keep insisting going out in 40 degree weather with no jacket will get me COVID

That and not giving her grandkids

i'd heard that about Hep A before, and of course norovirus but there are a LOT of diseases that spread fecal-orally from protozoans and bacteria.

then there's the people that wash for a few seconds and don't dry. just grab the filthy door handle with their wet hands. drying is important!

I've been to a few places that have a little wedge at the base of the bathroom door to make it easy for you open it with your foot. I'm surprised I don't see that more often.

My office actually put a trash can near the door for people to put paper towels after they use them to open the door, and a sign suggesting they do that

Fortunately i work at home now so not around sick. We have a bit of a more liberal PTO/sick policy yet when swine flu was bad we still had a few people who could have used a paid sick day and were symptomatic still come in anyway.

I had an HR person who would rail against the ‘mucus troopers’ coming in when they were sick to spread things around. That company was pretty good at sending people home and encouraging them to stay there when they were sick. It does suck though that some sick/pto polices force people to choose between vacation days, being ill and caring for a sick relative; so it’s no wonder people soldier on and get people sick.

Yea I've had a few friends have jobs threatened just for suggesting they weren't feeling well enough to come in a single time.

My bestie got the flu thanks to that

I will never stop opening doors with my hand

Use ur ~mind~

just stay away from bailing machines and table saws then

then there's the people that wash for a few seconds and don't dry. just grab the filthy door handle with their wet hands. drying is important!

― medicate for all (outdoor_miner), Sunday, March 1, 2020 2:04 PM (forty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

If all that's available are air dryers I think you're better off just wiping on your pants

There's a restaurant around here that only has filthy Dyson dryers but also the foot wedge on the door. So close yet so far

sad lol will dyson dryers be the death of us all, i feel the banter timeline is telling us yet :|

or maybe YES who knows i am tired

we should all just live under a blacklight.

Come to Australia, thanks to the ozone hole we pretty much do.