Good hand hygiene is much better than wearing gloves to protect yourself against Covid-19.
That’s according to Senior Clinical Labs Coordinator in the University of Limerick, Liz Kingston.
Many people have now taken to wearing that protective equipment while out exercising or shopping.
However, speaking on Tipp Today earlier, Tipperary native, Dr Kingston said doing that could lead people into a false sense of security:
“We are absolutely better off washing our hands. We know that washing our hands is effective. We know that it works.
“We know that soap and water works or if we don’t have access to soap and water – like if we’re out in public – if we have a hand sanitizer, that works also.
“The risk with gloves really is that people can become complacent and it can give us a false sense of security. So, we tend to think that if we’re wearing gloves that somehow we’re protected.”
Meanwhile, people may have to wear face masks in certain settings when any coronavirus restrictions start to be eased.
It comes amid reports restrictions may not be lifted at all or only eased slightly from next week because of concerns at the high number of new cases being recorded.
701 new cases of Covid-19 were announced in the Republic last night, along with an additional 26 deaths.
There are now 346 confirmed cases in Tipperary.
Chairman of the Coronavirus Expert Advisory Group, Cillian De Gascuún, says facemasks are forming part of their discussions.
