HAPPY NEW YEAR … right?
Happy New Year to all my blog readers and supporters out there! It seems whenever I wish someone with emetophobia a happy new year they’re always like “ugh…I hate January.” Apparently this year is “the worst ever” for reports of norovirus (incorrectly called “stomach flu”). It got me to thinking – is it really the worst? I don’t encourage people with emetophobia to ask Google this question. Because … why does it matter? Here are all the reasons it shouldn’t matter to you how much norovirus is “out there:”
- If you never put your fingers in your mouth or up your nose, you can never catch it.
- If someone with the virus vomits right in front of you, and you think you’ve been sprayed with even microscopic particles, head to a sink and wash your face and hands with soap and water before you lick your lips or sniff (you can’t inhale norovirus, but you can sniff it up your nose and swallow it down the back).
- If you do catch it – so what? I’m guessing you’re a young, healthy person reading this. Norovirus is a day of feeling gross, a day no one would sign up for, for sure. But then it’s gone and you didn’t die and life goes on just as before. Except that you’re now immune to this strain for the rest of the winter!
Some people with emetophobia go to excessive lengths to prevent Norovirus, most of which are completely unnecessary. We used to think benzalkonium chloride was the thing to kill it off on surfaces but now there’s a study to show it doesn’t work very well after all. Good ol’ bleach solution (1 tablespoon to a quart or litre of water) left on the surface to dry is still the best. And don’t use anti-bacterial soaps as they’re making “superbugs” and norovirus isn’t a bacteria anyway. Plain soap and water, and rub for 20 seconds (your Apple watch is a fun and cool help for that) and rinse. Voila…no more virus.
And please don’t wash your hands a hundred times a day. This will make them raw and dry – trapping the viral particles so washing them away is even more difficult. A normal amount of times to wash hands is 6-10 in a day. Each time you use the bathroom (for any reason), after you come home from outside, before preparing food, and before eating something with your hands. Further handwashing is not only unnecessary – it’s going to give you the opposite effect.
Beware of any times you want to put your fingers in your mouth such as:
- Licking food off your fingers
- Biting your nail(s)
- Licking fingers to turn a page
- Picking something out of your teeth
- Picking your nose
- Wiping the end of your nose
Remember, to catch norovirus you must swallow the particles (fecal or vomit). You cannot catch it through breathing them in, or being near or hugging someone who has/had/will have it. This IS how you catch Covid, however, and measles and a few other things so be sure your vaccines are up to date.
So take the necessary precautions and then scroll right past all those posts you’re seeing about people with Norovirus. I can guarantee they don’t know any of this stuff.