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Hand dryers worse than paper towels for spreading germs

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Yes, but (Score: 1)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-10-03 14:47 (#PBPE)

Are there better alternatives?

Besides, perhaps, single use hand towels.

Re: Yes, but (Score: 1)

by pete@pipedot.org on 2015-10-03 20:18 (#PC9Z)

Waterless hand sanitizer have been around for some time, but leave a weird unclean after-feeling imho; plus i'd imagine there are some people would refuse to use it, leaving the door handle dirtier than the toilet seat :)

Although not an alternative, an improvement could be to use UV light to sanitize the air. I know they are used in some air duct systems, but i'm not sure how efficient or quick they are, particularly for such a high volume of air.

Re: Yes, but (Score: 1, Interesting)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-10-04 07:56 (#PDA0)

There are a number of studies showing that hand sanitizer is less effective than soap and water, too.

I'm fairly sure I saw this particular study, about hand dryers, back in the mid- to late-1990s, but it showed that several minutes after drying your hands left you with the same levels, regardless of which method you used.

Ultimately, this is only useful for modelling the spread of disease, as most people will not change their hand washing methods anyway.

Moderation

Time Reason Points Voter
2015-10-04 12:32 Interesting +1 pete@pipedot.org

Junk Status

Marked as [Not Junk] by bryan@pipedot.org on 2016-05-06 23:21