ST. LOUIS — The CDC is recommending that everyone wear face masks in public, but what about gloves?
People in the area have complained about seeing them littered across parking lots and left on shopping carts.
"In public, you don't really need to wear gloves," said Dr. Jason Newland, who's an infectious disease specialist at Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
He said the gloves are meant for health care workers who change them often, not for picking out lemons in the produce aisle.
"Right, because you could be having the gloves touch a surface and think, 'Oh, I'm good. Take your glove off and maybe hold it in your mouth, which I wouldn't recommend ever to do, but it's not clean so it's not clean, you haven't washed your hands and that puts you at risk," explained Dr. Newland.
He said the virus is spread by droplets you inhale by either touching your face or not social distancing. The best way to kill it – soap and water.
"But regardless, you gotta wash your hands and you're gonna wanna wipe down those gloves you have all the time either way because the transmission is my gloves to my face, and that's how i'm going to get the virus," Dr. Newland said.
The CDC seems to agree. It's only recommending gloves for patient care and is asking users to limit opportunities for touch contamination.
"Let's just remember the key principles that we talked about: washing hands, wiping down surfaces, don't touch your face and social isolation like we've been doing," Dr. Newland said.
Making sure to wash your hands along with social distancing is still the best way to avoid getting the coronavirus.
So far, the CDC has only recommended face masks, not gloves.