Some of you have heard me talk about the men's room on the 3rd floor of the WDVE building on the air before. To be honest, I'm slightly germophobic, so it makes things even worse. It's f*cking disgusting in our bathroom.
What's worse is the fact that I've actually seen with my own two eyes, employees use the bathroom and walk out without washing their hands! It probably doesn't matter anyway, because the CDC says %97 of people wash their hands incorrectly...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that 48 million Americans get sick from foodborne illnesses each year, that’s 1 in 6 people, and it ruins your entire day. Those illnesses lead to 128,000 people being hospitalized and 3,000 deaths. Some of these foodborne illnesses could be because people are washing their hands wrong.
The USDA partnered up with nonprofit firm RTI International and North Carolina State University to conduct this observational study. There were 383 unknowing participants who used six test kitchens in the Raleigh-Durham region of North Carolina. The kitchens had hidden cameras to see how they washed their hands before preparing turkey burgers and chef salads. Only 3% of those in the USDA study were able to wash their hands correctly. Might want to stay away from restaurants in North Carolina.
Some people didn’t use or forgot to use soap. Some people didn’t use or forgot to use water. The most common mistake was not washing with soap AND water for at least 20 seconds. The cooks contaminated spice containers while preparing burgers 48% of the time and spread bacteria to refrigerator handles 11% of the time.
Here are the five steps on washing your hands correctly.
- Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap.
- Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
- Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds (roughly the same amount of time it takes you to disappoint your girlfriend).
- Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.
- Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
Do NOT use bathroom air dryers. They're basically re-contaminating your hands with fecal bacteria when you use them.