Even More of a Germophobe Since Covid

 

I was already somewhat obsessive about being careful of touching surfaces like door handles that were pushed or pulled by multiple hands throughout a day. You never know what those other hands had been in contact with.

Washing my hands as soon as I came home was automatic. I became even more aware of it after Covid hit. 

And I think I've always been careful about washing my hands before, during and after preparing food. But what about eating food prepared by others? Are they as careful? 

I probably learned most of my food safety habits from my Mom. I know I definitely learned the importance of sealing foods with as little air as possible. And that touching food with unwashed hands could cause mold, bacteria, spoilage, etc. 

Even in grade school I was loathe to loan a pencil or pen. Not just because I might not get it back but also because so many kids put the pencils in their mouths. Ick! But I did accept that even being careful among others didn't guarantee not being sick. There were certain childhood diseases that couldn't be avoided - chicken pox, measles, mumps, scarlet fever, strep throat and all those variations of the common cold. Some parents purposely exposed their children to illness so they could get it and get over with it. I didn't have measles until my sophomore year of high school even though I had been in close contact with kids that had measles many times. I don't know why. But I had both Rubeola, hard or 10-day measles, got over them and then had Rubella, 3-day soft measles, aka German measles a couple weeks later. 

As soon as vaccines for Covid were available I got both shots and then the two boosters when they became available. I continued to wear a mask in public (though few others were) until the first part of this year. Then in February I was sick for two to three weeks either with a Covid variation or just a cold. I knew all kinds of illnesses increased after the masses quit wearing masks so I wasn't too surprised, just disappointed about missing my granddaughter's wedding shower.

I haven't tried to keep track of how many times a day I wash my hands, but it's a lot. And when I'm out and about and can't I will use hand sanitizer even though I don't believe it replaces hand washing. I just can't stand thinking about not being able to wash my hands before and after doing anything. I suppose I could have a bit of an obsessive compulsive disorder in addition to my germophobia, but does it matter? Not as long as I can wash my hands. 😄👍