IAMORGAN

It’s very difficult to wash hands properly with those ridiculously small sinks in aircraft wcs anyway - you have to constantly push the taps and as others have said lots of touch points. I get the limitations of hand sanitisers (presumably communal ones should be touch free or you have to touch the dispense button) but every little helps! That said , I’m slightly worried - is there a risk that by being so clean other existing viruses will need to become more virulent in order to infect?

BrianDromey

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/...-2018111315327

A false sense of security in what respect? In medical settings hand sanitiser is considered aseptic for clean hands. There are certain types of sanitiser that can be used to replace surgical scrub with water.
Studies from Harvard suggest hand sanitiser does provide benefit to young children. I haven't looked for adult studies. As with any research study outcomes in all groups, including controls, are better than expected. Research trials are often like a rising tide - it lifts all boats.

What is interesting is that the toddlers were estimated to use the hand sanitiser 6-8 times a day, which seems a lot and that there were fewer respiratory illness, antibiotics and days off school. There is an alternative hypothesis that argues by being too clean that auto-immune conditions such as asthma and eczema are increased. Needless to say, the evidence is mixed and the truth probably lies in the middle.

scottishpoet

if this is important to you there is nothing stopping you take your own, as i do

MiraculousM

As someone that works in an NHS hospital, this is NOT true. It does give the general public a false sense of security, but on the clinic in my department, clinicians are FREQUENTLY washing their hands and hand santising right after at least 3-4 times PER PATIENT (and this was pre pandemic and with wearing gloves!)

PGberkshire

there is normally a large bottle in the galley, easy to use for passengers.

Moriarty

There’s public perception and there’s reality. Hand sanitiser is very much part of the SOP for each of our circa 100 clinicians and staff. Guidance being given to the public by the government and guidance being given by the NHS on the same matters is different.

To suggest that hand sanitiser gives a false sense of security, or that a person can lower their immunity by being too clean, is to also suggest the same is true of soap and water. It is not. Some people think their opinions are statements of fact, they are not; facts are facts, however, ignorance is bliss.