Do Not Touch Mouths, Noses, and Eyes
Protect yourself from others, do not touch their mouth, nose, and eyes. Protect others from yourself, do not touch your own mouth, nose, and eyes. If you realize that you have touched a mouth, nose, or eyes, either your own or someone else’s, wash your hands properly. If washing your hands is impossible at the moment, at least disinfect it with alcohol or a hand sanitizer (but hand washing is still preferred over these shortcut measures).
Why is touching a mouth, nose, or eyes such a big deal? Because these are where respiratory tract fluids are abundant (yes, including the eyes, whose tear ducts drain to the nasal cavity). What this means is if you are carrying the SARS-CoV-2, you could get the virus onto your hands just by touching your mouth, nose, or eyes. If someone else is carrying the virus, you could get the virus by touching their mouth, nose, or eyes (but, why would you touch someone else’s mouth, nose, or eyes?). If you get the virus onto your hands, touching a mouth, nose, or eyes (yours or someone else’s) could transmit the virus to that mouth, nose, or eyes.
Remember, you can get the virus onto your hands either through the droplets of someone else’s respiratory tract fluids, or from an aerosol of infected respiratory tract fluids, or from touching surfaces that are contaminated with infected respiratory tract fluids. So, even if you did not touch an infected person’s mouth, nose, or eyes, you could still get the virus onto your hands and transmit it to another mouth, nose, or eyes. Better yet, just do not touch your face, because anywhere there is too close to your mouth, nose, and eyes.
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