In a matter of days, we went from seeing no one wearing a mask and gloves in public to just about everyone wearing a mask and gloves in public. The goal of wearing personal protective equipment, is to prevent transmitting or acquiring COVID-19.
However, when this equipment isn't used properly it can be more dangerous than not wearing any at all.
If you've been told to use gloves by an employer or you feel they are best for your personal protection, it's very important to take the proper safety precautions.
Jacquelyn Gill, a paleoecologist and Associate Professor of climate science at the University of Maine, is used to wearing gloves when she does field work. As an ICE Age ecologist, she has to be careful not to contaminate ancient specimens she comes across in the frozen tundra.
So to inform the public on the safe way to wear gloves, she took to Twitter.
If all of her wisdom is news to you, don't feel bad, most people aren't professionally trained to wear gloves.
Based on what I'm seeing in my weekly grocery trip, people need a primer on how to use disposable gloves properly. As a scientist who wears gloves to protect me from lethal chemicals (abd to avoid contaminating ice age specimens), let me share some tips:
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
One of the most important things to remember: the point of gloves is not to not prevent you from “absorbing" the virus through your skin. If your skin is hydrated and you don't have open wounds, your body's natural defenses will prevent transmission through your skin.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
(With all the handwashing, your hands may be cracked and dry: keep them hydrated with heavy duty hand creams!)
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
The big benefit to wearing gloves is that they're disposable.
So why wear gloves? They're disposable! If you touch a surface lots of other people touched, like a pin pad at a checkout counter or a door handle, you can throw them away and avoid transmitting any germs (like coronavirus) to your phone, face, car door, debit card, keys, etc.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
Gloves will not prevent you from transferring germs from a contaminated surface to an I contaminated one! They aren't anti-microbial. If you touch a doorknob with gloves on, then touch your face WITH THOSE SAME GLOVES, you've transmitted germs from the doorknob to your face.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
You can easily transmit the virus while wearing gloves.
Things I saw people doing while wearing gloves:
- opening a soda bottle and taking a drink
- touching their glasses
- adjusting their masks
- touching their car keys, debit card
- using their phone
*All while shopping in a store and handling groceries, their carts, etc.*
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
Even though you're wearing gloves, you still have to wash your hands.
The only way gloves are effective is if you change them as often as you should wash or sanitize* your hands.
Read that out loud. Again. Make it stick.
*Good hand-washing with soap is more effective than sanitizer, but it's not always something we can do outside the house.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
If you have gloves on, and you've touched something, treat your hands as if they were contaminated. Period. Treat the gloves as an extra layer of skin that you can shed BEFORE you touch your face, your car door, or any surface you don't want to contaminate.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
“But doesn't that mean you have to change your gloves a lot?"
Yep!
It also means you can get by without them if you're washing your hands and paying attention to what you touch. Or save them for things like the gas pump or other single uses where you can't wash your hands.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
You should not re-use gloves.
Gloves start to lose effectiveness with use, and not all gloves are the same (there are many kinds!) so look up how long you can safely wear yours.
Learn how to safely remove them! https://t.co/GQC0bT21v2
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
If it rips, it's time to replace.
Many research-grade gloves are designed to tear if they have a defect, so if you put them on and they rip, that's good! It means there was a tiny hole or a weak spot. Just get another one.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
Be careful if you're thinking about sanitizing your gloves. You may be reducing their effectiveness, depending on the chemicals used. There are lots of charts online that tell you what your specific type of gloves will be effective against.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
And finally, please safely dispose of your used gloves in the trash. Bag them up in your car if you can't find an outdoor garbage can. Don't throw them on the ground for someone else to pick up, or where they could potentially harm wildlife.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
Don't wash and re-use your gloves.
A lot of folks are asking about washing and re-using disposable gloves:
Think of them like condoms, folks. Single-use and disposable. That's what they were designed for. They start to wear out and and fail rates increase within 15-30 minutes. That's why hospitals need so many.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
This seems obvious, but ...
I can't believe I need to add this, but: don't remove your gloves with your teeth. Ever. Under any circumstances. Even if we aren't in a pandemic. Even if you just chopped up some jalapeños. If you didn't want it on your hands, you don't want in your mouth.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
PS It's okay if you didn't know some or all of this. Disposable gloves are something most of us don't use on a daily basis. We're all having to learn new things to get through this. Take care of one another, stay strong, stay healthy.
— Dr. Jacquelyn Gill (@JacquelynGill) April 5, 2020
Gill's tweet thread discusses the importance of removing gloves safely to prevent the spread of disease. Here's the Centers for Disease Controls tips on how to do so properly.
A seven-step guide from the CDC outlines how to properly remove gloves to avoid unintentional germ transmission.- Grasp the outside of one glove at the wrist. Do not touch your bare skin.
- Peel the glove away from your body, pulling it inside out.
- Hold the glove you just removed in your gloved hand.
- Peel off the second glove by putting your fingers inside the glove at the bottom of your wrist.
- Turn the second glove inside out while pulling it away from your body, leaving the first glove inside the second.
- Dispose of the gloves safely. Do not reuse the gloves.
- Clean your hand immediately after removing gloves.
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A Looney Tunes classic. 
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A teen boy having a hard time. 
Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.