Partly True: You canget COVID-19 if you wash your hands after touching an infected surface.

By: Shivika Sharma
December 13 2021

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Contracting COVID-19 after washing your hands with water and soap immediately after touching an infected surface is very unlikely. Earlier in the pandemic, it was thought that COVID-19 can easily spread through infected surfaces. Later studies have shown that this is not the case. Harvard Medical School’s Coronavirus Resource Centre states that the risk of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spreading from contact with contaminated surfaces or objects is considered to be extremely low. US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that each contact with a contaminated surface has less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing a COVID-19 infection and that this route of transmission is “not thought to be the main way the virus spreads”. CDC states that handwashing will prevent the spread of germs during COVID-19. It recommends that one must wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to slow the spread of the disease. Soap is able to destroy the outer layer of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. CDC emphasizes the importance of handwashing before and after touching ones eyes, nose or mouth; touching face masks; entering and leaving a public places and touching an item or surface that may be frequently touched by other people, such as door handles, tables, gas pumps, shopping carts, or electronic cashier registers/screens. It is very unlikely that one contracts COVID-19 after washing hands with water and soap immediately after touching an infected surface with their hands and ensuring that they do not touch their face- eyes, nose or mouth in the meanwhile. The COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a lot of potentially dangerous misinformation. For reliable advice on COVID-19, including symptoms, prevention, and available treatment, please refer to the World Health Organization or your national healthcare authority.