An A to Z Coronavirus observational guide. . . H

H

Hands

Folk might say to you

“Here exactly how do I catch this Coronavirus thing called Covid-19”

Well just reply to them “Hands” if the answer is “My names not Hans” best to just explain that it comes from Mars or Venus or something. And tin foil wrapped around their head is useful.

However if they say “Hands?” then you can explain the following

You see this virus prefers to be inside the human body rather than out of it. Once inside, it then has a battle with the body’s own immune system and all being well the body wins and the virus is defeated. The tricky bit for the virus is being a virus it lacks stuff like legs or wings. The best it can do is float about in the air for a bit and then end up on some sort of surface for a while hoping to catch a ride on a new victim.

It can get out of the body fairly easily as we cough sneeze poke at our nose and stuff like that. So the virus takes a sort of leap of faith so to speak. Now you might breathe it in if you are right next to the person when this happens which is why we all need to keep a decent space between us all. But much of the time the virus will end up on things like doors, hands. Money, cups, plates, the cat, in fact anything but it prefers hard surfaces rather than stuff like wool or cotton because it can survive a bit longer.

So the issue is if you touch a surface that has been contaminated by Covid-19 and then touch you face, eyes or nose then you are at risk. And we touch our faces subconsciously a lot. No seriously we do it far more than we realize, particularly if you are wearing one of those masks. They may help if you are in close proximity to someone with the virus, but out and about it is your hands that are the dodgy thing so . . . . . . WASH YOUR HANDS . . . . Yep if you go somewhere wash them as soon as you can after touching things and try and avoid touching your face before washing your hands. . . . It is important. Lots of folk are wearing gloves but remember the virus will happily sit on the outside of those gloves and if you consequently touch the outside and you then touch your face you gain nothing.

Wearing masks by the way out in the world while you are mingling about are useful if you have the virus as it will help stop it leaping about a bit. But on the other hand you should not be out if you suspect you have it as you could potentially  make a lot of folk very poorly.



Since writing this the question of the importance of masks has cropped up again. Some are now saying the public should use them. However personally I tend to think wearing a mask will make folk a bit more complacent and realistically you should wear a new one each time you go out. And they are not easy to buy unless you pay silly blackmarket prices to dodgy folk and I am not doing that.