Hockey handshake lines at the olympics impacted by norovirus

A couple of times a week I play hockey with a bunch of amateur skaters. We play in a C league. That means we’re not very good. Most are out to have some fun and drink some beer after the buzzer.

Sometimes, there’s a player or two who got into it with each other (that’s a hoser hockey term for a push or a trip) who re-meet in the post-game handshake line.

The classy hockey players fist bump or slap hands and say ‘good game.’

Not everyone is classy. Leave it on the ice, we’ve all got to get up and get back to our normal lives the next day.

I’m talking to you, guy in the green helmet from my game last night. Don’t be so angry.

And don’t give me norovirus.

According to ABC News, the handshake lines are different during the Pyeongchang Olympics compared to other games after over 200 security folks and athletes have acquired the virus.

Officials have told players to fist-bump each other rather than shaking hands to prevent transmission of norovirus, which is highly contagious. U.S. defenseman James Wisniewski’s 62-year-old father tested positive for norovirus last week and is one of 49 of 283 confirmed Olympic cases still in quarantine.

“It’s something that you’re like, ‘Ah, really how bad can it get?’ And then all of a sudden bang, bang — a couple people close to you have it and you don’t really know how, you don’t know where,” Wisniewski said Monday. “You don’t want it going through your locker room, that’s for sure.”

Hepatitis A scare for Australian Afghani community

An employee who worked on the butcher’s counter at an Adelaide supermarket has tested positive for hepatitis A, prompting a health warning.

The supermarket specialises in retailing products to the Afghan community.

"While the chances of becoming infected are small, we’re asking customers who bought produce from the butcher’s counter during the infectious period to be aware of the risk," director of public health Kevin Buckett said.

Hepatitis A is spread when traces of faecal matter containing the virus contaminate hands, objects, water or food and are then taken in by mouth.

The ‘ole poop-on-the-hands-oral-fecal-route routine.

Dr Buckett said employees from the Vatan supermarket had been offered a vaccination against hepatitis A and health officials continued to work with the business owners to inform the local Afghan community of the health warning.

He said 55 cases of hepatitis A had been reported in South Australia so far this year compared to just 19 in 2008.

UK school bans handshake tradition amid E. coli fears

The traditional handshaking ceremony that takes place after assemblies at Bedales School in Steep, near Petersfield, has been temporarily scrapped amid fears it could spread infection.

Headteacher Keith Budge said he made the decision after being told on Sunday that a 15-year-old student had been diagnosed with E. coli O157.

"We have already checked hygiene arrangements across the school and will be advising all staff and students to follow good hygiene practice. The school’s traditional handshaking ceremony after assembly has been suspended until we get the all-clear."

Kiss, not handshake to avoid illness

Researchers say kissing may be safer than shaking hands.

Sally Bloomfield of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and chairwoman of the International Scientific Forum for Home Hygiene, said that a recent study published in the American Journal of Infection Control said to avoid catching flu, stomach aches, methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus, salmonella or C. difficile, people should pay greater attention to good hand hygiene.

Good hygiene at home can mean fewer infections spread among family members and fewer patients demanding antibiotics. But good hygiene is more than just washing hands — surfaces that spread germs via hands such as door handles, tap handles, toilet seats and cleaning cloths also need regular hygienic cleaning.

Clothing and linens, baths, basin and toilet surfaces can also play a part in spreading germs between family members in the home, the report said.