Schools Must Provide Soap to Maintain Basic Hygiene

Good hygiene practices are more important than ever with the COVID-19 outbreak, but soap isn’t provided as standard in all schools.

Community angst, concern and stockpiling in the wake of COVID-19 hasn’t been pleasant. One positive, however, is a renewed emphasis on good hygiene and how washing your hands can help prevent germs from spreading.

We all need to learn and practice this important life skill every day and not just during a virus outbreak. In terms of good hygiene practices, we should know what to do, understand why and be reminded about this.

This message is more important than ever with the COVID-19 outbreak, as the simple act of thoroughly washing your hands with soap and water can remove microbes from the skin to help prevent transmission. Before COVID-19 many of us didn’t realise that washing with soap for 20 seconds or “the length of two Happy Birthdays” was needed.

Yet soap isn’t a given in all Australian government schools as it should be.

Read the full article on Pursuit here:

https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/schools-must-provide-soap-to-maintain-basic-hygiene