Coronavirus and personal hygiene: 7 habits that are worth adopting from American children

Author of the blog on the site "Voice of America" Miroslava Gongadze spoke about the good habits and hygiene rules taught to American children. Adopt these rules during the spread of the world of coronavirus will be very useful. Next - from the first person.

Photo: shutterstock

You were taught at school how to sneeze properly so as not to infect others? Or at least once showed you how to wash your hands? I have to admit - I'm not there.

I’ll say more: when I was a child, we had a toilet on the street, a kind of wooden booth with a hole. I dreamed about hot water or a bathroom at home all my childhood. There was no toilet paper either. Instead of a white roll, we had the Pravda newspaper cut into pieces. When you spend time in the toilet, you could engage in patriotic self-education.

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You grew up in Soviet times! What personal hygiene is there, when there was nothing, you say. Yes, but has it really changed so much? Raise your hands to those who, having visited any state institution in Ukraine today (court, Cabinet, city committee) found a clean toilet there, and even with toilet paper and hand soap. I was almost never lucky. And the longer I lived in Ukraine, the more this condition of toilets without paper and soap caught my eye.

And what are you all about toilets? - you are indignant. Yes, because the toilet, in my opinion, is the face of hygiene of the family, public place, restaurant or institution, in the end - the country. And how people relate to the issue of personal hygiene is an indicator of the attitude to one's own health of an individual person or nation.

And again, I admit, I had to change my habits here in the USA for a long time. And I am grateful to this partially to my children. When they returned from school, they trained me and told me what they had learned: sneezing or coughing not in the hand, but in the elbow, be sure to wash your hands many times a day, not only after the toilet or before eating.

Wash them correctly with soap for at least 20 seconds, or during the time during which you sing Happy Birthday twice.

I remembered how they taught me when, once again in the days of the spread of coronavirus from London, an adult daughter called and began to complain that Europeans did not adhere to personal hygiene. She, who had been trained since childhood at school on how to cough properly or how and how much to wash her hands, was indignant that her work colleagues or students at the university ignore basic hygiene rules, endangering the infection not only of herself, but also of those around her.

In the United States, the issue of personal hygiene has been elevated to a cult. Daily showering, brushing your teeth twice a day, washing or disinfecting your hands several times a day - this is the way children are taught and trained from childhood. There are tons of games, tutorials, books, and cartoons where these rules are taught to children. And even with this American sterility and fear of bacteria, the disease has found its place here. What can we say about other countries ...

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When I asked my daughter how often they were taught to cough correctly, covering their face not with their hand, but with their elbow, she replied: “So often that it became an iron habit for me.”

The world has changed in recent years, globalization and openness make the spread of infections instant. Therefore, in order to protect yourself and not infect others, make the following habits iron for yourself and your children.

Seven important personal hygiene habits:

• Wash your hands often with soap under running water for at least 20 seconds.
• If soap and water are not available, use a hand sanitizer containing at least 60% alcohol. This is especially important after using public transport.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands.
• Avoid close contact with sick people in any way possible. Keep your distance in public places.
• Sneeze or cough, covering your face with a disposable napkin or sleeve.
• Wash and disinfect frequently used items and surfaces at home and at work, especially a telephone, keys, glasses.
• If you feel unwell, stay home and see your doctor.

Read also on ForumDaily:

5 Russian habits that surprise Americans

Personal experience: what our habits are considered rude in the USA

Why aren’t children wearing American school buses?

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