Essay Covid19

Hand-washing as A Prevention of The Spread of COVID-19.
How
Does It Work?
COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease caused by a new type of

coronavirus found in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. At present, COVID-19 has
infected more than 1 million people worldwide. On April 8, 2020, recorded on
Worldometer, there were 1.434.353 positive cases with 82.148 deaths (Worldometer,
2020). Efforts to stop or reduce the rate of spread and transmission of the COVID-19
virus require cooperation from all parties, especially the community. One of the
cheapest, easiest and most important ways to prevent the spread of the COVID-19
virus according to WHO recommendation is to wash your hands frequently.
Hand hygiene is one of the most effective ways to prevent respiratory
infections (Wang, Qiang, & Ke, 2019). COVID-19 spread when droplets or mucus
containing the virus get into your body through your eyes, nose, or throat and most
often, this happens through by your hands (Unicef, 2020). The technique of hand-
washing should be carried out properly to ensure all areas are adequately
decontaminated. Washing hands can use soap and water or with alcohol-based hand
sanitizer if you do not find soap and water. To achieve fully clean hands, there are
nine steps should be followed (WHO, 2009): 1) wet hands with water and single
shoot of soap or single shoot of hand sanitizer; 2) rub hands to palm; 3) rub back
of each hand with the palm with fingers interlaced; 4) rub palm to palm with
fingers interlaced; 5) rub with backs of fingers to opposing palms with fingers
interlocked; 6) rub each thumb clasped in opposite hand using rotational movement;
7) rub tips of fingers in the opposite palm in a circular motion; 8) rub each wrist with
the opposite hand; 9) rinse hands with water and dry thoroughly if you wash with
water and soap. Also important is knowing when to wash your hands. Here are the
key times when hand-washing should be conducted (Unicef, 2020): 1) after
blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing; 2) after visiting a public place; 3) after
touching surface outside of the home, including money; and 4) before, during, and
after caring for a sick person.
Healthcare professionals recommend hand-washing with soap and water for at
least 20 seconds as often as possible (Graham Carlos, Dela Cruz, Cao, Pasnick, &
Jamil, 2020). A drop of soap diluted in water is enough to kill many types of bacteria
and viruses, including coronaviruses that cause COVID-19 disease. Soap is an
amphiphilic compound that can be fused with water or fat. Soap molecules have a
long head and a long tail of hydrocarbons. The head can be fused with water, while
the tail is a part that can be fused with fat. Soap molecules will drag oil into the water
so that the oil will dissolve into the water. This is the secret of the success of soap in
cleaning something that is fat or oil (Jabr, 2020). Soap is very good for eradicating
coronavirus because coronavirus is a package of nucleic acids wrapped in protein and
surrounded by fat as an outer wrapper. If the coronavirus is exposed to soap, the
corona virus's protective fat becomes easily broken down and destroyed by soap.
Thus, hand washing with soap and running water not only removes the virus from the
hands but can also kill it.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are another method used to clean hands that still
look clean. Hand sanitizers are powerful antiseptics that are volatile when used. WHO
recommends that the duration of washing hands with hand sanitizers is 20-30 seconds
(WHO, 2009). The advantage of hand sanitizers is that they can kill germs in a
relatively fast time because they contain alcohol compounds and phenol groups. The
compounds contained in the hand sanitizer have a mechanism of action by denaturing
and coagulating germ cell proteins (Asngad, R, & Nopitasari, 2018). The effective
alcohol content as a hand sanitizer ranges from 60% to 95% so that the level of a hand
sanitizer solution containing an alcohol content of less than 60% cannot effectively
kill bacteria or viruses contained in the hands or other medical devices (Boyce &
Pittet, 2002). However, alcohol does not work for all germs like norovirus
Clostridium difficile and Cryptosporidium which can cause diarrheal disease. Hand
sanitizer also can not eliminate harmful chemicals such as pesticides and heavy
metals, hand sanitizer also does not work well especially on dirty or oily hands. So,
washing hands with soap and water is still an overall solution.
In conclusion, we can know that hand-washing can work effectively in
preventing the spread of COVID-19. Hand-washing with steps by following WHO
recommendations for 20-30 seconds, not only can clean dirty hands but also can kill
viruses and bacteria that stick to the hands. However, hand-washing with soap and
water is said to be more effective than with alcohol-based hand sanitizers, because in
addition to killing viruses and bacteria soap can also clean hands from dirt, oil, and
other harmful.
Reference:
Asngad, A., R, A. B., & Nopitasari. (2018). Kualitas Gel Pembersih Tangan
( Handsanitizer ) dari Ekstrak Batang Pisang dengan Penambahan Alkohol ,
Triklosan dan Gliserin yang Berbeda Dosisnya. Bioeksperimen, 4(2), 61–70.
https://doi.org/10.23917/bioeksperimen.v4i1.2795
Boyce, J. M., & Pittet, D. (2002). Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care
Settings. Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices
Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task
Force. MMWR Recomm Rep, 51(RR-16), 1–45.
Graham Carlos, W., Dela Cruz, C. S., Cao, B., Pasnick, S., & Jamil, S. (2020). Novel
Wuhan (2019-NCoV) coronavirus. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical
Care Medicine, 201(4), P7–P8. https://doi.org/10.1164/rccm.2014P7
Jabr, F. (2020). Why Soap Works? Retrieved 7 April 2020, from

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/health/soap-coronavirus-handwashing-
germs.html
Unicef. (2020). Everything you need to know about washing your hands to protect
against coronavirus (COVID-19). Retrieved 7 April 2020, from
https://www.unicef.org/coronavirus/everything-you-need-know-about-washing-
your-hands-protect-against-coronavirus-covid-19
Wang, Z., Qiang, W., & Ke, H. (2019). A Handbook of 2019-nCoV Pneumonia
Control and Prevention. In S. Strokes (Ed.), Hubei Science and Technology
Press. Wuhan: Hubei Science and Technology Press.
WHO. (2009). Hand Hygiene: Why, How & When? Retrieved from World
Health Organization (WHO) Patient Safety website:
https://www.who.int/gpsc/5may/Hand_Hygiene_Why_How_and_When_Brochu
re.pdf
Worldometer. (2020). COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. Retrieved 8 April

2020, from https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

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Hand-washing as A Prevention of The Spread of COVID-19.

COVID-19 is a respiratory infectious disease caused by a new type of

Jabr, F. (2020). Why Soap Works? Retrieved 7 April 2020, from

Worldometer. (2020). COVID-19 CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC. Retrieved 8 April

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