How to Actually Wash Your Hands the Right Way

Plus, an important note about hand sanitizer.
Collage of person washing their hands soap and bubbles
Getty / Moyo Studio / ATU Images / Chris Clor; Designed by Morgan Johnson

It’s hard to get through the day without hearing about the new coronavirus. You might wonder if you should worry, how to prepare, and whether those handwashing steps and recommendations people keep talking about are actually useful. First of all, yes, wash your hands—thoroughly and often, even when there isn’t an infectious disease in the news. That said, it’s never a bad time to brush up on handwashing steps, and that’s even more true with this new coronavirus outbreak.

When we talk about handwashing right now, it’s crucial to talk specifically about how the new coronavirus (known formally as COVID-19 when you’re talking about the illness and SARS-CoV-2 when you’re talking about the virus itself) spreads from person to person. Keep reading to learn all about why handwashing is an even bigger deal in the infectious disease world than usual right now, plus how to do it the right way.

How can washing your hands help you avoid the new coronavirus?

Some background before we dive in: The new coronavirus was first discovered in Wuhan, China, at the end of 2019. Though this particular strain of coronavirus is new in humans, it’s part of a larger family of coronaviruses, which is a group of germs that can cause illnesses ranging from SARS to the common cold, the World Health Organization (WHO) says. Since the first documented case of COVID-19, it has spread to approximately 73 countries around the world, according to the WHO (that’s as of press time, but will likely change).

There is still a lot that we don’t know about the new coronavirus (for instance, there isn’t a specific treatment or vaccine for it). So far, most people who get the new coronavirus will develop a mild form with symptoms like coughing, shortness of breath, and fever within 2 to 14 days of exposure, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says. Even with a relatively low occurrence of severe illness, SARS-CoV-2 is still highly transmissible, the CDC says, and it’s possible that people can spread the virus before they start showing symptoms. (Still, it seems much easier to spread the virus when you’re symptomatic.)

Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 happens primarily through the spread of large respiratory droplets between people within six feet of each other, the CDC explains. (In that way, the new coronavirus is much like the common cold or influenza.) That could mean one person with COVID-19 coughing and another person inhaling those droplets, Marc Lipsitch, D.Phil., professor of epidemiology at Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health, tells SELF. It could also mean touching something like a doorknob that has SARS-CoV-2 on it, then touching your mouth, he adds. However, according to the CDC, large respiratory droplets are the key way this illness is currently spreading. (Researchers are looking into if there are other ways the virus might pass from person to person, like through contact with feces.)

Every infectious disease has a basic reproduction number, which measures the average number of people one person with the illness has the potential to infect. The new coronavirus’s basic reproduction number is likely to change (researchers are gathering information as new cases unfold), but a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine estimates that people who get the new coronavirus are likely to spread it to about two additional people. This estimate coincides with the CDC’s assessment that the new coronavirus spreads pretty easily within a community.

All of this brings us to why, in the face of the new coronavirus, experts are stressing basic hygiene practices like covering your mouth when you cough or sneeze, staying home when you feel sick, and washing your hands. And that doesn’t mean a lightning-quick rinse with soap and water—you need to follow proper handwashing steps.

“By doing all those things, we not only protect ourselves, but we slow down the spread of the virus,” Lipsitch says. “And that means that fewer people will ultimately get it.” Slowing the spread of the virus also gives experts more time to understand how to treat COVID-19 before it reaches as many people as it would otherwise, Lipsitch explains.

Follow these five handwashing steps every single time.

You should wash your hands after using the bathroom, before eating, and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing, the CDC says. The organization also recommends washing your hands before, during, and after cooking, after handling garbage, after changing a dirty diaper, before and after caring for someone who is sick, after touching an animal, and after touching pet food or treats. Basically, if there’s a chance your hands just got dirty or they’re about to come into contact with parts of your body like your mouth, wash them. This is especially important if you aren’t regularly disinfecting your phone/laptop/water bottles/other things you touch constantly (though this is a good reminder to do so), because washing your hands and then grabbing your dirty phone before you grab some chips is one way germs can enter your system.

Even if you pride yourself on washing your hands regularly, there’s a chance that you don’t necessarily wash them as long or as frequently as the CDC recommends. Consider the following handwashing steps an opportunity to be a bit more luxurious and intentional with your hand-hygiene routine.

  1. Start by wetting your hands with clean running water. It can be either warm or cold. Once your hands are wet, you can turn off the tap before you introduce soap into the equation.
  2. Washing with soap is far more effective than rinsing your hands with water alone. Lather your hands with soap, taking the time to generate suds between your fingers, the backs of your hands, and underneath your nails, the CDC instructs. You might think you need the most stringent soap to do the job, but the CDC says in most cases, regular soap will do the trick. There’s very little evidence that soap marketed as antibacterial is more effective than regular soap, the CDC says.
  3. After you’ve lathered up, scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. (This boils down to about two rounds of the “Happy Birthday” song if you’re feeling festive.) Feel free to increase your scrub-time based on how dirty your hands are. As the CDC notes, 20 seconds should be considered a minimum, but, as you may have guessed, “20 seconds is a lot longer than what most of us typically do,” Lipsitch says.
  4. Rinse your hands under clean running water to remove the dirt and germs.
  5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them. The CDC says that germs can be transferred more easily to and from wet hands, so don’t scrub them for 20 seconds and start touching things with sopping wet fingers.

Yes, hand sanitizer works (but not as well as those handwashing steps).

We hate to break it to you, but hand sanitizer isn’t meant to replace regular handwashing. However, when you aren’t near soap and water, you can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer, the CDC says (just make sure it’s at least 60% alcohol). Hand sanitizer won’t eliminate all microbes on your hands, but it will reduce and even inactivate many of them, the CDC explains, adding that a lot of people don’t use enough of the stuff or wipe some of it off before it’s dried, both of which can lower its efficacy.

And if you’re now wondering about handwashing steps for children…

We can’t blame you. The same handwashing steps and recommendations do apply to kids; in a perfect world, you’d want to keep their hands as clean as possible. If you’re a parent or caregiver to delightful little humans, you’re probably scoffing right now.

“We love kids for the same reason that they’re challenging. Their social behaviors are not the same as adults,” Aaron Milstone, M.D., epidemiologist and professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins Medicine, tells SELF. “They put everything in their mouth. They share everything. They don’t respect personal space. They have behaviors that make them more likely to either get exposed to an infection or to spread infection,” Dr. Milstone says. Keeping their hands clean is a pretty high order, and experts just want you to do your best and try to maintain a bit of perspective. We haven’t seen a large number of cases of COVID-19 in children, Dr. Milstone says, and certainly not severe ones.

“Given the number of [new coronavirus] cases that have been seen in the world—and the number of deaths—it’s pretty remarkable that we haven’t heard of pediatric death,” Dr. Milstone explains.

With that in mind, Dr. Milstone suggests that parents and caregivers do the best they can to keep little hands clean without taking measures that would cause undue anxiety. And, if things get really messy, you can always tuck some hand sanitizer into your bag for easy access.

The situation with coronavirus is evolving rapidly. The advice and information in this story is accurate as of press time, but it's possible that some data points and recommendations have changed since publication. We encourage readers to stay up to date on news and recommendations for their community by checking with their local public health department.

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