April 23, 2020 / By Lauren Steussy , Suzy Weiss | New York Post
The gloves are coming off in the fight against dangerous myths surrounding the coronavirus.
Despite no recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to do so, shoppers continue to wear gloves in public places, such as grocery stores. The gesture has left doctors and health experts shaking their heads — not only are the gloves ineffective, they may be worsening the spread of COVID-19.
The virus primarily spreads through our mouth, not our hands, so there’s no evidence that gloves do anything to protect people from picking up the illness. The risk is when people touch their faces, which they do with and without gloves, says Marilyn Roberts, a microbiologist and professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences.
“The biggest issue is that people are picking up COVID-19 from other people,” Roberts tells The Post. “They’re not picking it up from surfaces.”
