Here's Why Wearing Gloves Outside Won't Help Stop the Spread of Coronavirus

In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, people everywhere are doing what they can to keep from contracting the coronavirus, but some of the preventative measures people are taking may not be helpful. Gloves and face masks are the top two items families everywhere are using in hopes of slowing the spread, but now it's being reported that they may not be as helpful as what people think. One expert is saying that gloves are "only as good as not touching your face."

"The glove itself is only as good as not touching your face with the glove," Robert Almer, M.D., the Vice President for Government Affairs at New York Medical College and former CDC Chief Medical Officer, said according to Good Housekeeping. "So, you know you can touch things with your hands, ... and as long as you've washed your hands or use hand sanitizer afterwards, you've accomplished the same thing." Essentially, wearing gloves won't lower your risk of getting COVID-19 if an individual still isn't maintaining good hygiene. Using gloves could continue to spread the virus, so it's important to wash your hands and keep as sanitary as possible.

Sandra Kesh, M.D., an infectious disease specialist who is the Deputy Medical Director at Westmed Medical Group in New York Tri-State region added to that saying that even the way someone pulls their glove off could eliminate the whole preventative process. "If you're wearing gloves while shopping but happen to itch your nose or rub your eyes, it defeats the purpose of wearing gloves," she said. "When wearing gloves, you should picture them being infected, or 'hot.' Anything they touch gets infected, so to speak."

Dr. Almer added, "Whether you use the glove or your hand, you're going to contaminate the part that's touching something — it could be your fingers, or it could be the glove. ... Either way, washing your hands is the most effective protective measure [against spreading germs], because we know soap has special properties that really breaks up the virus very effectively." The Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, tweeted out for people to stop buying face masks because not only was it taking away from medical professionals who need them, but he said that wearing face masks may not be as helpful because people fidget with the mask, therefore they're touching their face which is the opposite of what's being advised during this time. "Seriously people - STOP BUYING MASKS!" he wrote. "They are NOT effective in preventing general public from catching #Coronavirus, but if healthcare providers can't get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!"