I admit I was wrong.

[robinson46176]

I read just recently that more Americans have been married to Kim Kardashian than have Ebola...

Ed, the reason it spreads like wildfire in Africa and not here is that many of the folks there live in the kind of filth that Europe did in the days of the plague. Huge areas of people who have been driven from their homes and are living in huge refugee camps without clean water, provisions for bathing, decent nutrition and no sanitary provisions for human waste. Once it gets hot spots established simple sanitation is no longer enough.

The biggest fear mongers here are the media who care more about ratings than the truth and politicians (on both sides) who are looking for any possible chance to grandstand...

The best thing we can do in this country is park the tin-foil hats and start demanding that people wash their hands when using the bathroom. I have read that the number that does not wash their hands is over 30% but based on my observations I believe it is much higher...
One day while waiting for an uncle that I had taken to the Indy VA hospital I was in the restroom and a doctor (it said so on his badge) came out of a stall and walked directly out into the hall. I could not read his name tag beyond "doctor", I was busy washing my hands. Now some may argue that he went to his office to wash but I had to use the same damn door knob to get out of there that he did. And who is to say that he didn't meet someone in the hall that reached out to shake his hand.
There may be those that don't mid handling their private parts and door handles that others handle unwashed then go to KFC and eat fried chicken with their fingers but I'm not one of them...
I'm not really a germaphobe. I can brush a horse with one hand and eat a sandwich with the other. If I need to change hands I can lay the sandwich on the horses back to do so. I just don't like people germs.
We could cut disease transmission (of all sorts) in this country by about 2/3rds just by getting people to wash their hands.
I keep telling people that restaurant sinks should not be in the restroom but out in the restaurant where if someone does not wash their hands everybody would see and they could all boo and hiss the offender to shame them into washing. So far that movement has not moved yet...


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[Ed in Tampa]

...Now some may argue that he went to his office to wash but I had to use the same damn door knob to get out of there that he did. ...


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My daughter who is a nurse tells me if you touch the door knob of a restroom with even slightly damp hands (like just after you washed and towel dried or had them blown dry) you likely have picked up every germ on the knob. That your hands are probably dirtier than they were before you washed.

In particularily dirty restroom I do not wash my hands and especially if there is no drying towel. I do not touch anything in the restroom except myself and I know what bugs I have. My wife carries hands sanitizer.

I always use a dry towel to open the door, if there is no towel I sometimes wait for someone to come in or to go out and tail gate or if forced I even use the tail of my shirt rather than touch the door knob with damp hands. I simply will not touch a restroom door knob if I can help it.

Call it germaphob if you want but after what my daughter taught me, no way.

I remember an old joke three sailors were in the restroom when a Marine walked in, did his business and walked out. As he passed by the sailors one of them said, Well at least in the Navy they teach us to wash our hands." To which the Marine replied,"in the Marines the teach us not to pee on our hands."