Shop's blunt sign reveals why 'absolutely no gloves' allowed in store
A sign seen in a shop’s storefront telling customers they’re not allowed to wear gloves inside during the coronavirus pandemic has caused a stir online.
The sign from the unknown store, believed to be in the US, claims wearing gloves could create contamination and washing your hands is the only effective way to avoid the deadly virus.
“Absolutely no gloves allowed inside store - management,” the note begins.
“Gloves are meant to avoid cross-contamination. For instance, in a hospital, workers glove up to touch a patient and then DISCARD the gloves before moving on to the next task. If you are wearing the same set of gloves all over town, you are carrying germs everywhere! Every door you touch, the cart, the supplies, your phone, your face.
“It would be far better to not wear gloves and WASH YOUR HANDS after every store or every task.”
An image of the sign was posted to Facebook last week and has been shared more than 60,000 times.
It quickly drew comment from numerous social media users, many of which agreed with the store’s management.
“Not everyone has common sense or knows anything about cross-contamination,” one woman wrote.
“People are in fact wearing them store to store. Not even taking them off when they re-enter their vehicle after walking out of Walmart. If there’s a medical condition, and you need gloves, wear them. But too many don’t understand their proper use, which isn’t helping and is preventing those that need them, from getting them.”
“If you wear a clean pair of gloves into the store, pick up an item put it in your cart then pick up another item your gloves are contaminated, you have no idea who touched that item before you,” another said.
Other viewers said they wash their gloves or change them between visiting each store.
“Or change your gloves...duh? I put a new pair on before I enter a store and I remove them and dispose of them in a bag I keep in my vehicle that I throw out. I do this to protect my husband who has fought lung cancer and intends to continue. I find this post and insult and can't imagine anyone wearing them store to store,” one person said.
“So, I typically wash my gloves or wipe them with a Clorox wipe if going to a new store, usually I just use a new pair for each store. They absolutely are helpful,” another woman wrote.
Do gloves protect you?
While many people have been seen wearing masks and gloves to protect themselves from coronavirus, health experts have warned the personal protective equipment (PPE) may actually increase the likelihood of infection.
Excluding healthcare workers, there is a risk that gloves are just as efficient in transferring virus from one surface to another as naked hands are, Dr Catherine Bennett, chair in epidemiology at Deakin University, told Yahoo News Australia.
“If the wearer is not practicing the usual hygiene and awareness of the surfaces being touched that we should all be practising, this risk of cross contamination of surfaces may be higher with gloves on.
“If people are less mindful of what they are touching, including their own face, or tissues etc, then this may increase the risk of spreading the virus from surface to surface further. It may also undo any protection to the wearer if they are more likely to touch their face with the gloves on with a false sense of security,” she said.
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Virologist Professor Ian Mackay, from the University of Queensland, told Yahoo News Australia there were three mistakes people would likely make while wearing gloves that can increase the risk of infection.
“People will wear gloves going to the shops and what they’ve done is add a whole new surface that will let viruses stay on it for longer than if it was just your hand by themselves, so that’s an increased risk.”
Another mistake is people assuming a pair of gloves will protect them at all costs when they can actually increase the chance that other people will become sick, Prof Mackay says.
“They will drag their hands all over the place thinking they’re safe, but they’re actually spreading potential viruses to other people,” he said.
“They then leave those gloves, in some cases, in the shopping trolley or in the car park for other people that clean up the shopping trolley to come in to contact with, and risk their health because of laziness.”
Earlier this month, a nurse shared a video on social media to explain how wearing gloves can give a false sense of security when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19.
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