I wash after using the bathroom or if I was doing something that left something (dirt, grease, etc) on my hands. Other than that, I don’t just randomly go wash them.
Ok, I'll put this here. I'm going into the breach tomorrow. There are now 14 confirmed for cases at my hospital, and they are moving them all to my wing. We will be quarantined and required to wear masks, gloves, and booties. What in Hades' name, you say, is a teacher doing on a quarantine wing? Simple. Manpower. I agree with Jeff though. I'm around animal manure, chicken litter, animals, and K-6 snotrockets all the time, and have been for years. A certain immunity gets built up. Especially working with the elements that don't make cleanliness/godliness a priority in their lives. So far I've been doing well, since I had the lion's share of sick kids all week. Hopefully my luck holds. I was sent to Walgreens with a list of OTC stuff to buy and begin dosing with tonight. Clorox is my new cologne...
I ate dirt as a kid and drank untreated creek water for 17 years. Rarely wash my hands except after bathroom or working with raw chicken. Strong immune system, Sicilian/German liver, I hardly ever get sick. Last cold i had was at the ex gf, thanks to her demon spawn snot nosed things. Not around kids anymore nor do i take public transit here either. Eat tons of garlic every day, 7 days a week, tons of spicy peppers, lots of hot indian food. Drink like a fish and never get hangovers. I bleed like a butchered goat though when i get knife cuts...... left a drip trail all the way up to my Israeli friends home/pizza joint.
I wash my hands a lot at work. I work in the third world country of Brooklyn and I stationed to the filthiest projects in all of New York. crackwhore poop lines the walls, blood everywhere urine on every step of the stairs, dirty heroine needles strewn about like Christmas tinsel ,rotting bodies half eaten by cats, I have been to third world areas of the world in Asia and South America and the look like a Beverly Hills operating room compared to the places I work. So I wash ALOT
I was listening to a podcast recently where the guest mentioned that they are seeing positive results in battling the growth of peanut allergies by giving infants small amounts of peanuts. A method that has worked for countless other issues. Weird, right? The fact that if you allow the human body the chance it's pretty good at defending itself. And if you wrap it in bubble wrap and constantly bathe it in hand cleaner and dump unneeded weird chemicals (drugs) into it at any sign of discomfort then it becomes weaker. I wash my hands to remove blood, gas and hydraulic fluid from them because that stuff makes my food taste weird and my wife not want to be fondled. Otherwise, I don't worry too much about it. And yes, I think less of people who want to fist bump instead of give a hand shake during flu season just like I do the rest of the year. So, don't worry about disinfecting your skin all the time. Play in the rain year round. Push your kid down regularly. Let them be cold a little or sweat a lot and uncomfortable regularly. Or keep them in comfortable conditions all the time and prepare them for a life of dumping pills down their throats and/or being sick all the time.
Interesting responses thus far. My approach is simply a plain soap and water technique when not in a "sterile" setting. I think the amount and aggressiveness of handwashing is contingent on your environment more than anything as alluded to by @junglebum. There is good EBD on exposure models and human resiliency, vaccinations and such. Anyone who has trained in martial arts with an unkempt partner for example has certainly been exposed to the big four. I haven't taken an antibiotic since I was a kid and take zero medications for anything. Anecdotally, I trace it back to training with a guy who ate on the toilet and had a perpetual glaze on his skin surface. I would suggest that the "survival minded" review antibiogram data to develop your own approach to personal hygiene.