Dry hands are 1,000 times safer than damp hands; or so say PR types

What Would Don Draper Do? He’d reject the crappy ad copy, leave it to his underlings if necessary, and walk away. After a large glass of whiskey.

Mike Kapalko, SCA Tissue`s Environmental & Tork Services Manager says,

"Our hands touch 300 different surfaces every 30 minutes. And, according to the CDC, up to 40 percent of Americans could contract the H1N1 virus through 2010.
So properly washing and, equally important, effectively drying your hands is a simple way of dramatically decreasing your risk of being infected. As a leader in
hygienic solutions, Tork provides businesses and consumers with handwashing resources such as posters and educational videos through our website."

The press release says damp hands spread 1,000 times more germs than dry hands2.

This is the reference:

2Patrick, D.R., Findon, G., Miller, T.E., Epidemiology and Infection

That’s not a reference.

“It is therefore as important to dry your hands as it is to wash them carefully with soap and warm water.”

Nah, water temperature doesn’t matter much either.

How hard is it to get it right?

 

This entry was posted in Handwashing and tagged , , , , , by Douglas Powell. Bookmark the permalink.

About Douglas Powell

A former professor of food safety and the publisher of barfblog.com, Powell is passionate about food, has five daughters, and is an OK goaltender in pickup hockey. Download Doug’s CV here. Dr. Douglas Powell editor, barfblog.com retired professor, food safety 3/289 Annerley Rd Annerley, Queensland 4103 dpowell29@gmail.com 61478222221 I am based in Brisbane, Australia, 15 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time