Americans, notorious germaphobes, are bad at handwashing?  According to Gina Kolata at the New York Times , after interviewing Dr. Trish Perl an infectious disease specialist at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, the answer is yes! In the spirit of risk prevention, we want to help publicize this video on the proper technique for using hand sanitizer and washing hands.  Some researchers did a study comparing the Center for Disease Control recommendations for proper hand sanitizing with the World Health Organization recommendations. And the winner is… the World Health Organization. Their method takes more time, about 42 seconds to be exact. The video is short and is worth the time for a quick view.  One error many people make is to clasp their hands together while sanitizing rather than making certain to get in between the fingers.  

We are receiving many inquiries about whether travel insurance will cover the Coronavirus.  We wrote about this on February 10^th with some helpful tips on where germs congregate on airplanes.  Some travel policies will reimburse travelers if there is a travel ban.  As of this writing the US is only banning travel to China and Iran since the start of the outbreak. Read more here about the travel ban.  If you decide to proceed with your travel plans you will probably enjoy places that are much less crowded with tourists.  Make frequent hand sanitizing a part of your routine. 

No one knows exactly when the Coronavirus will be extinguished. Even when it does there will still be harmful germs. If everyone does a better job of hand washing maybe we can slow the spread of the common cold and influenza.