More US adults are washing their hands in 2020

In 2020, more adults in the United States remembered to wash their hands after experiencing respiratory symptoms or before eating compared with 2019, data show.

However, despite these improvements, researchers noted that less than 75% of Americans remembered to practice hand hygiene in these situations this year.

Julia C. Haston, MD, an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer at the CDC, and colleagues compared survey responses collected in October 2019 (n = 3,624) and June 2020 (n = 4,053). The sample sizes were comparable across all demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, they said.

According to the researchers, respondents frequently remembered to wash their hands before preparing food at home in 2019 (86.5%) and 2020 (85.7%), after using the bathroom at home (85.9% and 89.6%) and after using the bathroom in public (95.5% and 94.8%). They were less likely to remember to wash their hands before eating at home in 2019 (62.9%) and 2020 (74.4%), before eating at a restaurant (55.2% and 70.6%) and after coughing, sneezing or blowing their nose (53.3% and 71.2%).

Compared with 2019 responses, the odds of adults reporting that they had washed their hands were significantly higher in 2020 after they used the bathroom at home (adjusted OR = 1.41); before they ate at home (aOR = 1.72); before they ate in a restaurant (aOR = 2.01); and after they coughed, sneezed or blew their nose (aOR = 2.28).

“Public health efforts should promote frequent handwashing for all, with attention to tailoring messaging to men, young adults and non-Hispanic White adults” — groups that reported lower handwashing rates, the researchers wrote. “Particular focus should be placed on encouraging handwashing at important times such as before eating and after experiencing respiratory symptoms.”