Over the last three years or so I’ve been wary of bus rides because I’d had some bouts of flu that hung around for a couple of months. I didn’t want another one. This was when I was regularly doing four and sometimes six bus rides a week that were about an hour and twenty minutes each. That’s plenty of time in which to imagine you’ve started crawling with a virus. Especially if there’s a cougher nearby. Once it was actually the driver. He was sneezing every few minutes and had a damp and flabby tissue in his hand. Why he went to work that day I have no idea.
It was common knowledge even to a fairly unaware type as myself that the flu bugs could land on a metal or plastic surface and go from there onto your hand thence to in your mouth or nose, or eyes. And now it's covid-19, daddy-o.
I started wearing imitation leather gloves even back then. I lost one, but then realized one was better than nothing so I kept with that. It was not a fashion statement, as my daughter thought. On a bus I could grab the rail if necessary getting on or off or going up or down the stairs.
Who doesn’t go around now with a small bottle of hand sanitiser? One with 70 per cent alcohol being best. That has proved a great leap forward. The one I just bought was four pounds but worth it. I also have a brass gimmick on order that you can press buttons with, and hook door handles so you cut down your contact with dodgy surfaces.
If you have no other recourse and MUST actually press a button or touch a panel, it’s a good idea to use a knuckle and then sanitise or wash your hands soon after. This tip I got from an online baby boomer magazine. At least if in the meantime you thoughtlessly touch your face, you might not use the knuckle.
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