Handwashing with Soap: The Key to Preventing Covid-19 Spread - Essay Sample

Hand hygiene is crucial in preventing Covid-19 spread. The use of antimicrobial soap to wash hands effectively prevent transmission of microbial diseases such as COVID-19. Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends using water and soap to wash hands after sneezing or coughing, touching surfaces, visiting public places, and before eating (Rundle, 2020). Handwashing with water and soap should take at least 40 to 60 seconds. Viruses with the same physical and biochemical properties are deactivated with detergents; this ensures intermediate or low disinfection (Cirrincione,2020).

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According to Rundle 2020, hand hygiene products are synthetic detergents, soaps, antiseptic hand washes, and hand sanitizers (alcohol-based). These hand hygiene products function the same. Soap should contain a pH of around 9 to 10. Soap eliminates dirt and deactivates viruses by disrupting the intracellular lipids and lipid membranes. Ma & Shan 2020 asserts that wiping hands with a wet towel containing 1percent soap powder, 0.25 percent active sodium hypochlorite chlorine, or 0.05 percent active chlorine removed 98.36 percent, 99,98 percent, and 96.62 percent of Coronavirus.

The use of antiseptic hand soaps in handwashing is one of the protective majors against Coronavirus infection. The antiseptic soaps significantly reduce microbes within a short period compared to regular soap (Pradhan,2020). Health workers have a right to soap and water for washing hands to protect themselves against COVID-19 (Jain, Chopra, Kohli, & Khan, A. (2020). Regular handwashing efficiently reduces infectious diseases occurrence and the associated child mortality (Burns, Maughan-Brown, & Mouzinho, 2018)

References

Cirrincione, L., Plescia, F., Ledda, C., Rapisarda, V., Martorana, D., Moldovan, R. E., ... & Cannizzaro, E. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic: Prevention and protection measures to be adopted at the workplace. Sustainability, 12(9), 3603. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12093603

Rundle, C. W., Presley, C. L., Militello, M., Barber, C., Powell, D. L., Jacob, S. E., ... & Dunnick, C. A. (2020). Hand Hygiene During COVID-19: Recommendations from the American Contact Dermatitis Society. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2020.07.057

Ma, Q. X., Shan, H., Zhang, H. L., Li, G. M., Yang, R. M., & Chen, J. M. (2020). Potential utilities of maskwearing and instant hand hygiene for fighting SARSCoV2. Journal of medical virology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.25805

Pradhan, D., Biswasroy, P., Ghosh, G., & Rath, G. (2020). A review of current interventions for COVID-19 prevention. Archives of medical research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arcmed.2020.04.020

Jain, V., Chopra, A., Kohli, S., & Khan, A. (2020). The COVID Conundrum for Healthcare: An Indian Perspective. International Journal, 3(3), 325. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343097419_The_Covid_Conundrum_for_Healthcare_An_Indian_Perspective

Burns, J., Maughan-Brown, B., & Mouzinho, Â. (2018). Washing with hope: evidence of improved handwashing among children in South Africa from a pilot study of a novel soap technology. BMC public health, 18(1), 709. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-018-5573-8