How To Be a Germophobe

Yesterday, as I sat in my Humanities class at Utah State University, which happens to be my favorite class, the girl sitting right next to me started coughing and sneezing. It was right in the middle of class so I couldn’t exactly get up and move, but I wanted to. I leaned as far away from her as I could. She was covering her mouth with her hands, which not only contaminates her hands, it sends her virus-contaminated coughs and sneezes out the sides, which was directly aimed at me. I could literally feel the air coming from her. It was horrifying. I felt completely contaminated.

Here’s what I did to remedy the situation:

As soon as I got home I sprayed some colloidal silver, which is antimicrobial, in my mouth and nose.

I took some Airborne.

I took some orange essential oil in a cup of water (for its natural antimicrobial properties).

I took a shower, scrubbed from head to toe and put all of my clothes including my coat in the washer.

So far so good. I haven’t come down with anything yet and hopefully I won’t at all.

A couple days ago, I took my 13-year-old son to the doctor for a check-up and to have the knee that has been bothering him looked at. I also had my oldest daughter and 3-year-old son with me. The waiting area is divided into separate seating areas that are side by side with the sick patient waiting area all the way at the end. My kids sat in the waiting area next to the one in front of the check-in desk where a couple with a young girl approximately 9 or 10 years old was sitting. As I was checking in, I heard the girl coughing a horrible sounding, wet cough. They were absolutely not sitting in the sick patient area where they should have been. I turned around and told my kids to move all the way to the other end in front of the pharmacy. I then turned to the lady checking me in and asked her “Shouldn’t they be in the sick waiting area?” She looked uncomfortable and said “yes” but did nothing about it. I have to say that I was extremely annoyed.

When the nurse called us back, I pointed out the girl and told her that she had a terrible cough and should be in the sick waiting area. She told the lady at the desk to give her a mask to put on but didn’t tell her to send them to the sick waiting area. At least a mask was an improvement. I just don’t understand why people are so careless. If they would keep their germs to themselves, they wouldn’t have a chance of infecting other people.

On another note, I was at a church meeting last Sunday and I noticed a young girl around 11 or 12 years old with a cough. She was coughing into her arm, which is good, but then she was biting her fingernails and touching things.

In my opinion, we need some good public health education messages out there to educate everyone to be more aware of what they are doing. If everyone was more careful, there would be hardly any sickness caused by germs. This is the reason that I am going back to college to get a degree in Public Health Education.

Is it a good idea to use paper towels that are just left sitting on the counter in a public restroom? My answer would have to be no. For one thing, the counter may or may not be clean. If the paper towels were set on a dirty counter by an employee who was too lazy to just put it in the paper towel dispenser where it belongs, you could be picking up additional germs when you dry your hands on them. The other problem with this is they have to be touched on the other end in order to pull a piece off. I have observed the careless way that many people “wash” their hands. Most people wash their hands very quickly, sometimes without soap, then use their hands to turn the fawcett off. If they are grabbing the paper towel roll with their unsanitary hands, it is adding germs to the other end of the paper towels. Also, sometimes the roll gets dropped on the floor in the process. It’s just not worth the risk. In this situation, I opt for drying my hands on my pants or shirt.

I have to rant a little today. I went to a grocery store to get a few items for lunch and dinner today. While I was waiting in line at the cash register, a little girl, probably around 10 years old, got in line right behind me. She leaned over the checkstand right where my groceries were and coughed a horrible cough right on my stuff! She stayed there and kept coughing too. She was right over the loaf of bread I was planning to purchase so I told the cashier that I no longer wanted the bread. I purchased the rest of my items, keeping as much distance as I could from the girl. When I got home, I wiped everything with a Clorox wipe.

This kind of behavior is unacceptable! I would NEVER allow my child to do something like that. First of all, she shouldn’t have even been at the store. Second, her parents should be teaching her some manners. It is extremely rude to cough all over someone else’s stuff, especially when it’s food!

Here are some things I have observed over the past couple of weeks:

Things that make me happy:

• I saw a lady at the grocery store who did what I always do, which is getting the grocery cart wipe first and then wiping the grocery cart before touching it. About 99% of the people I see grab the grocery cart and then get the wipe.
• I saw a lady in a public bathroom using a paper towel to turn the water on and off and another paper towel to open the door.
•  I took my daughter to our local animal shelter to look at a dog. They had hand sanitizer everywhere.

Things that were yucky:

• My kids and I participate in our local library’s summer reading program. We get coupons for a free item every week when we read at least 2 hours. Last week’s coupon was for a free cookie at a local grocery store. We went to the bakery to get the cookies and the lady took them out with her bare hands and put them in a bag for us. I should have said something to her but I just stood there kind of horrified.
• We went to a summer picnic and they had those large drink coolers with a spout at the bottom full of punch or water. A lot of kids and some adults were putting used cups right on the spout for refills instead of holding them below it without touching. That’s a great way to not only spread germs but pick up new ones.
• I saw a man carrying a Redbox DVD in his mouth.

There are certain features in some public bathrooms that I consider outdated and disgusting. First, I can’t stand sinks that you have to constantly push down on to keep the water running. What is the point of even washing your hands if you have to constantly re-contaminate them by touching the faucet? The automatic variety is much, much better. My second choice would be the type of faucet that has to be turned on, but remains running. I use a paper towel to turn the water on and off. As far as the annoying sinks that don’t stay running go, I do my best to balance a wadded up paper towel on it so when the water turns off, I don’t have to dirty my hands again to turn it on. If the paper towel falls off, I have a fresh paper towel ready to go at the dispenser to grab and use. If you are unfortunate enough to be in a bathroom that has this type of sink and only hand dryers, get a couple extra wads of toilet paper. Put one in your pocket just in case you need it. Use the toilet paper to turn the water on and also to open the door when you leave.

Another thing that I find annoying and unsanitary is paper towel dispensers that are right above the trash can. I always get a paper towel ready before I wash my hands so I don’t have to touch the dispenser and dirty my hands again. With this type of dispenser, only a small amount of paper towel can come out before touching the trash. Its not enough to dry my hands, so I take the small piece of paper towel and use it to get more. I grab the bottom part of the paper towel as it is coming out so that it doesn’t touch the trash can. I don’t know who came up with this design, but it doesn’t seem to be very well thought out.

Yesterday when I got into my Toyota Corolla, I noticed that the low tire pressure light was on again. I just put air in one of the tires about a week ago. I decided I’d better get it checked out. I went over to my local Les Schwab Tire store for a flat repair. Their service was great. They found a nail in the tire and repaired it for me.

As I was waiting, at first I sat in their waiting area. They had self-serve popcorn, coffee, and hot chocolate. It didn’t look very sanitary so I didn’t go anywhere near it. There was a family with three small kids waiting as well. They had two little girls and a baby boy that they let crawl all over the floor. Even before becoming a ”germophobe,” I never let my kids crawl on the floor in public places. All of their kids were sick. I didn’t notice until the baby started coughing. I got up and moved to a different area. The little girls were going around the showroom touching everything. They were also putting their hands in their mouths. They were not only spreading their germs everywhere, but probably picking up some new ones.

Sometimes, I truly believe that society in general needs a good education about how germs are spread and how to be careful. My book is an excellent resource for that. I still see the majority of people out there coughing into their hands (if they bother covering it at all) and then touching everything. If everyone was more careful, we wouldn’t have to worry so much about what is safe to touch in public. I recently got a pair of antibacterial, antimicrobial gloves from www.getglovd.com that are not only practical, but comfortable and cute. I’m glad there are products out there that provide protection in public places.

It annoys me to no end when other people take their sick, coughing kids everywhere and expose the rest of us to their germs. Well, I guess I’m a hypocrite because my 2-year-old son has a cold and cough and I had to take him to the store a couple days ago. We were out of toilet paper. Not a good thing to run completely out of! All of the older kids were at school so I couldn’t leave him at home. When he coughed, I blocked it with my own coat or his arm. I’ve been teaching him to cover his mouth with his arm. He does pretty good but he is only 2 so sometimes he just coughs uncovered.

My 6-year-old daughter has also come down with this cold. I had to take her and my 2-year-old out again today because my 11-year-old son had a basketball game and nobody else was home to watch the younger kids. I tried to be as careful as possible not to let them spread any germs.

Apparently, my house is full of germs since the kids are coming down with colds. We’ve been wiping the door knobs, faucet handles, light switches and other commonly used surfaces but maybe its time for more of a deep cleaning.

I went to my local Sam’s club store today to restock on some items I was running out of. I hadn’t had lunch yet so I got in line at their cafe to get a pizza combo. As I was waiting, a lady and her kids got in line behind me. I overheard her tell her son to sip slowly when he gets his drink just in case he gets sick again. I thought, “great, a kid that might barf is right behind me.” I moved forward in line as far as I could and he just moved forward too. I went around to the side of my cart and he just moved up right by my cart. I couldn’t get away from him! His mother left him in line and walked away. I hold her responsible. First of all, she shouldn’t be dragging a sick kid around to stores. If she absolutely had to bring him, she should have sat him down at a table away from other people and stayed in line herself. Whatever became of simple common sense? I ended up leaving. I already had a stomach flu a couple months ago and I really don’t want to go through that again. I stopped at Little Caesar’s Pizza on my way home instead.

I have been doing a paper route for around two months now. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to deliver newspapers when I had the stomach flu because the only person who could sub for me was out of town. I was careful about keeping my hands clean while handling the newspapers. I had no desire to spread my germs.

The newspaper bundles for my route are not delivered to my house. I, along with all the other carriers, pick them up at the home of the person who is over all of the routes. I noticed one of the other carriers coughing right into his hand and then touching all of the newspapers. I don’t know if he has a cold or if it’s just allergies but it bothers me. I want to say something to him but I don’t know what to say that won’t come across as rude. I really don’t think he realizes what he’s doing. I’d appreciate any suggestions.