I guarantee you will think you are not touching your face with your gloves but you will be, we can’t help it.
No, I can 100% tell you right now, that is not happening with me.
In a normal world, germs are a problem for me, I probably do more to prevent myself getting a cold than the average person. So my protocols, while extreme to some, is what makes me feel better about all this.
If I just went around touching multiple items, then simply used hand gel, before eating a pack of crisps, to me I wouldn't feel safe. I know hand gels must be the right thing to use, although initially it seemed it was only soap and water that we were being told that worked, maybe to encourage general hand washing (which I hope will continue). As I said, I have issues anyway.
If you imagine a human doing an impression of a penguin, that's me. As soon as my gloved hands touch something that isn't in my house, or I haven't had the chance to wash or quarantine it for several days, my hands don't even come near my body, if they do, that item of clothing goes straight into the wash, or I remove it if I can, or I sit very awkwardly all the way home and don't touch that area.
If I get hair in my face that I can't brush away using a clean part of my body, such as my arm, then I either put up with it, or get someone else to do it for me. If my glasses slip down my nose, if I can't move them back up without using my hands, the same thing happens. When I'm out shopping, only one of us touches things, so someone always has clean hands.
I'm that paranoid about even my clothes touching a surface that may have COVID-19 on it, I've actually stopped wearing flappy clothing so as I bend down into a trolley for example, not even my clothing touches the outside. I'm aware the risk for this is small, but it's what I'm doing.
I am 100% happy to admit all this is overly cautious, and I wouldn't recommend it at all for most people, but most people aren't me.
My hands can transmit COVID-19 just like gloves. When I've touched all the items, put them in my bags, the gloves come off. Bacterial wipe used, then gel, as I said mainly to remove the powder. At home, I unpack everything, remove all the packaging (someone else takes out the clean contents from the packaging), wash items, or put them away somewhere for five days (more than the 72 hours I know). After I'm done outside (because these things don't even come into the house), I then wash my hands thoroughly after someone else has put the taps on and dispensed the soap for me.
This has happened all the way through lockdown regarding items from a supermarket, and going out more means this continues but now there is more stuff being brought into the house that I either can't wash or to be quite honest don't want the hassle of washing. So we're moving towards quarantining things now, which to be honest I never would have imagined happening in April, so maybe one day soon - and I've already spoken about this in regards visiting Blackpool Pleasure Beach - I will stop using the gloves and trust the hand gels do what they're obviously doing for everyone else.
Mum definitely thinks I'm over the top and that's fine. There have been argument over it, and quite frankly tears. There has been very little I've had control over regarding this, so this makes me feel like I'm doing something, and it's not for the fun of it - I'd like to go back to a world where I'm bothered hearing someone coughing because I could catch a cold - but to keep me and my family as safe as we can.
As I said, I do have issues normally, so waking up one day to find myself in what turned into a pandemic..... I either could sit around all day and cry or I make the best of it. I am actually surprise I took the latter route because of previous "pandemics" (that never actually materialised) and how they affected me.
So I understand what you're saying, and you are in more of a position to comment regarding gloves and their uses etc, but just as no doubt people have been using hand gels for weeks and are perfectly fine, we've been using gloves and our measures have been working out fine as well.
As I said, I can see that probably changing, It would be nice to be able to pick things up and not wear gloves and also to not be contributing to what will mostly likely be an environmental disaster with all the gloves and masks etc that have been used.
@RoyJess - That is exactly it! You could be on a deserted path on an island with only you and four others and those four other would find you. It's absolutely true! We were at Warwick Castle for the gardens, and there was this huge path, two women were ahead of us by about 8 metres walking in the middle of the path. We decided (with eight metres between us) to walk alongside the path on the grass. As we got nearer to the women (we were walking faster then they were), they suddenly started to turn and the next minute, they were right there cutting in front of us. We had stayed on a straight course, and they moved from the middle of the path to walk right by us. To be fair, they were going downhill at this point, I did argue maybe gravity took its toll.....
They look so handy. Normally to open doors (pre-COVID-19) I'd use a tissue to touch the handle if I was leaving the loo as I don't trust most people to wash their hands. Might have to look into getting some of those.
.... I expected the route around the rapids to be halved in this way also, so for them to make the whole area one way, and open up a path by Wicker Man so people could walk in the opposite direction.... genius.
.... I expected the route around the rapids to be halved in this way also, so for them to make the whole area one way, and open up a path by Wicker Man so people could walk in the opposite direction.... genius.