SAHMRI handwashing survey reveals SA could still be easy prey for COVID-19
Half of us are not doing it for long enough or hitting the right spots — handwashing, that is. It’s “astonishing” how much room for improvement there is and this makes us “easy prey” for COVID-19, say SA health experts.
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Half of the SA population is not washing their hands properly, making us “easy prey” for the coronavirus, survey results suggest.
RAH cardiologist Dr Johan Verjans, who led the research for the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, says the survey shows our behaviour must change if we are to avoid excess deaths from COVID-19.
“It is astonishing how much we can improve,” he said.
“Really think about that, confront yourself and your friends and try to correct each other, if people are not doing something right.
“That’s the most powerful weapon we have.”
The survey of 1141 South Australians revealed about half (48.9 per cent) don’t wash their hands for long enough. Most also miss important areas, such as the wrists (69 per cent), nail beds (63 per cent), and nails (40 per cent).
Ideally everyone would be washing their hands for 20 seconds or more (51.1 per cent), but less is common, with 21 per cent washing for 15-19 seconds and 19 per cent for 10-14 seconds. Some people are washing for just five to nine seconds (about 7 per cent) and a fraction (0.61 per cent) just one to four seconds.
“Even if it sounds silly to wash your hands for as long as you have to, there is research that shows how important it is to do this,” Dr Verjans said.
“And why not? Because life will be better.”
Dr Verjans’ advice for nails was to keep them short and trim them often.
“Scrub the underside of nails with soap and water (or a nail brush) every time you wash your hands,” he said.
Most people have learnt to cough or sneeze into their elbow (75 per cent), but many fail to always wash their hands afterwards, especially after sneezing (64 per cent).
And even those people who try to stop touching their face are still doing it.
Fortunately most South Australians are social distancing well. Most people (81 per cent) never spent time with more than 20 people, apart from grocery shopping, or even more than five people.
Dr Verjans is now testing the success of a simple intervention – a short video addressing knowledge gaps featuring influential, high-profile sporting heroes. The video was released to the public this week after it was tested in Dr Verjans’ research program.
Dr Verjans revealed that Adelaide Football Club coach Matt Nicks plays a starring role in the video, which you can see at the top of this story.
“Coaches like me will tell you a strong game is built on defence, as there’s currently no vaccine or effective treatment for the coronavirus, these basic measures are the only defence we have,” he says in the video.
“We’re all in this together and we need to be taking care of ourselves and each other.”
Port Adelaide Vice-Captain Hamish Hartlett was also pleased to take part.
“A situation like this can be pretty overwhelming,” he said.
“I think it’s important for people to remember that they can make a difference, and can make a difference by doing some pretty simple things.”
The project is a collaboration with the VU (Vrije Universiteit) University in Amsterdam, where researchers have shown how easy and cheap it can be to influence behaviour, and also Duke University, North Carolina, US.