A new study suggests that white young men are less likely to wash their hands after sneezing and coughing despite the coronavirus pandemic, MailOnline reports.
The Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed last week that this group of people had the least number of reports that they regularly wash their hands before eating or after using the restroom.
Moreover, in comparison with the statistics in 2019, Americans are 2.3 times more likely to wash their hands now due to the pandemic after eating, sneezing, and coughing. Americans are also twice as likely to wash their hands before eating at a restaurant.
However, 25% of the American population still do not follow public health protocols despite the growing number of COVID-19 cases in the US.
College-Aged White Males in the US Are Less Likely to Wash Their Hands after Sneezing and Coughing, Study
25% of Americans Are Not Washing Their Hands Regularly
According to the CDC, one out of four people does not remember to wash their hands at essential times, like after coughing and sneezing. This is based on the data from two Porter Novelli Public Services' ConsumerStyles surveys conducted in October 2019 and in June this year.
The two surveys asked the respondents of when doing they usually remember to wash their hands. Such as after using the bathroom at home or in public, after coughing and sneezing, before eating at home or in a restaurant, and before preparing the food.
Thankfully, the results said that majority of the people remember to wash their hands after using the bathroom at home with a score of 85% in both 2019 and 2020. While 95% remembered to wash their hands after using the bathroom in a public place, Live Science reports.
Meanwhile, both years have the same score of 86% that participants remembered to wash their hands before preparing their food.
However, 25% of Americans still do not remember to wash their hands before eating. The report from CDC shows that only 63% remembered washing their hands before eating at home, while 53% in the restaurant and 53% said that they washed their hands after sneezing and coughing or blowing their nose.
Although this number increased in 2020 due to the pandemic, it is still not the ideal number. According to the report, only 74% said they washed their hands before eating at home, 70% at a restaurant and only 71% said that they remembered to wash their hands after coughing or sneezing or blowing their nose.
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Young White Men Less Likely To Wash Their Hands After Sneezing or Coughing
Some demographic groups were least likely to remember to wash their hands. This includes men, young adults, and white people in the US.
In CDC's report, only 65% of men reported washing their hands after sneezing and coughing and blowing their nose compared to 76% of their female counterparts.
Moreover, only 69% of white adults said that they washed their hands at critical times during coughing, sneezing or blowing their noses, in contrast to the Blacks which are 83% more likely and Hispanic adults that are 72% more likely to wash their hands.
The authors of the report said that their findings stressed the importance of promoting frequent hand-washing, especially in times of the pandemic.
"Men, young adults, and white adults continue to be less likely to remember to wash their hands, despite improvements made from 2019 to 2020," the authors wrote.
They concluded that more work is required to make people remember to wash their hands after coughing and sneezing or blowing their nose to reduce the transmission rate of the virus that may come from the droplets when someone coughs or sneezes.
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