Healthcare Hygiene magazine March 2020 | Page 6

from the editor h ealthcarehygienemagazine Handwashing Can Play Key Role in Preventing Infectious Transmission Globally As Kelly M. Pyrek editor & publisher [email protected] the world grapples with the consequences of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), a timely new study indicates that improving the rates of handwashing by travelers passing through just 10 of the world’s leading airports could significantly reduce the spread of many infectious diseases. And the greater the improvement in people’s handwashing habits at airports, the more dramatic the effect on slowing the disease, the researchers found. The study, which is based on epidemiological modeling and data-based simulations, appears in the journal Risk Analysis. The authors confirm what public health professionals already suspect – that people can be surprisingly casual about washing their hands, even in crowded locations like airports where people from many different locations are touching surfaces such as chair armrests, check-in kiosks, security checkpoint trays, and restroom doorknobs and faucets. Based on data from previous research, the team estimates that on average, only about 20 percent of people in airports have clean hands – meaning that they have been washed with soap and water, for at least 15 seconds, within the last hour or so. The other 80 percent are potentially contaminating everything they touch with whatever germs they may be carrying. “Seventy percent of the people who go to the toilet wash their hands afterwards,” says study co-author professor Christos Nicolaides, a fellow at the MIT Sloan School of Management. “The other 30 percent don’t. And of those that do, only 50 percent do it right.” Others just rinse briefly in some water, rather than using soap and water and spending the recommended 15 to 20 seconds washing, he says. That figure, combined with estimates of exposure to the many potentially contaminated surfaces that people come into contact within an airport, leads to the team’s estimate that about 20 percent of travelers in an airport have clean hands. Improving handwashing at all of the world’s airports to triple that rate, so that 60 percent of travelers to have clean hands at any given time, would have the greatest impact, potentially slowing global disease spread by almost 70 percent, the researchers found. Deploying such measures at so many airports and reaching such a high level of compliance may be impractical, but the new study suggests that a significant reduction in disease spread could still be achieved by just picking the 10 most significant airports based on the initial location of a viral outbreak. Focusing handwashing messaging in those 10 airports could potentially slow the disease spread by as much as 37 percent, the researchers estimate. Even small improvements in hygiene could make a noticeable dent. Increasing the prevalence of clean hands in all airports worldwide by just 10 percent, which the researchers think could potentially be accomplished through education, posters, public announcements, and perhaps improved access to handwashing facilities, could slow the global rate of the spread of a disease by about 24 percent, they found. “Eliciting an increase in hand-hygiene is a challenge,” Nicolaides says, “but new approaches in education, awareness, and social-media nudges have proven to be effective in handwashing engagement.” Nicolaides says that one important step that could be taken to improve handwashing rates and overall hygiene at airports would be to have handwashing sinks available at many more locations, especially outside of the restrooms where surfaces tend to be highly contaminated. In addition, more frequent cleaning of surfaces that are contacted by many people could be helpful. Until next month, bust those bugs! Kelly M. Pyrek Editor & Publisher [email protected] 6 A.G. Hettinger, CPA president & CFO Patti Valdez art director Mary Johnson sales and marketing specialist [email protected] Linda Lybert business development consultant J. Christine Phillips customer service manager Send inquiries to: [email protected] Healthcare Hygiene magazine is published monthly by Keystone Media Inc. 8925 Ridgeline Boulevard, suite 106, Highlands Ranch, CO 80129. Free digital subscriptions available at www.healthcarehygienemagazine.com for U.S., Canada and other foreign subscribers. Copyright © 2019 Keystone Media Inc. All rights reserved. The publisher reserves the right to accept or reject any advertising or editorial material. Advertisers, and/ or their agents, assume the responsibility for all content of published advertisements and assume responsibility for any claims against the publisher based on the advertisement. 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