Can You Wash And Reuse Disposable Gloves?
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Because the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 can spread via contaminated surfaces, some people are taking the extra step of wearing gloves for apparent protection.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests people use gloves while disinfecting the high-touch surfaces of their homes and discard them after each cleaning. If you’re using reusable gloves for the sole purpose of ridding your house of coronavirus, the CDC says to use them only for that purpose.
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But what if you’re outside your home and want to use and reuse gloves to do grocery runs or other errands?
Health experts weighed in, and don’t recommend either practice.
You probably shouldn’t be wearing gloves at all.
One reason health experts don’t endorse wearing gloves outside is that they can give wearers a false sense of security that they don’t need to wash their hands.
The World Health Organisation does not believe that wearing gloves outside is effective in preventing coronavirus infections: “Regularly washing your bare hands offers more protection against catching COVID-19 than wearing rubber gloves,” the health organisation said in a Facebook post.
It’s difficult to use gloves without causing some contamination.
Both latex and nitrile medical-style gloves are designed to be single-use, noted Lucy Wilson, the chair of the department of emergency health services at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.
One reason for this is because “removing them is difficult, and you can contaminate...
