Dr. Dylan’s best practices to avoid germs and illness

As kids head back to school, not only will they bring home assignments, they can also pick up germs and viruses. Dr. Dylan Wyatt, an emergency medicine physician at St. Luke’s, says the best way to avoid spreading germs is simple: washing your hands.

This fall we can expect the spread of things like Norovirus, Influenza, and Covid-19. As well as bacterial illnesses like Salmonella. When we wash our hands, we can interrupt the transmission.

How to wash your hands:

• Wet your hands under clean running water
• Turn off the tap and apply soap to your hands
• Create a lather of soap, covering the front and back of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails
• Scrub hands for at least 20 seconds
• Run under water again to rinse

Hand sanitizer is another good option because of its convenience. If you do use it, make sure to rub the sanitizer into your hands until it’s completely dry.