Never Touch Your Face When Sitting On A Plane, Experts Say — Best Life

As you’ve probably already noticed, airports and planes are more crowded than ever right now. During the pandemic and amid holiday travel, you should be more adamant about keeping six feet away from others in bathroom lines, and washing your hands for at least 20 seconds. But in a compact space, like your airplane seat, there’s no telling what kinds of germs can travel. With that in mind, experts have emphasized that no matter how much you’ve wiped down your area, there’s one thing that you should avoid putting your hands on at all costs, especially after touching your seat. Read on to find out what to steer clear of on your next flight.

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While you can’t predict what germs you may come in contact with on a plane, you should try to keep your seat and space as clean as possible. In fact, before taking your seat, you can sanitize the armrests as an extra precaution. But once you’ve finally gotten comfortable, there’s one particular precaution you should be taking throughout your entire flight, especially after you’ve touched your seat.

“My rule of thumb is I never put my hands in my mouth or near my face,” flight attendant Linda Ferguson told Reader’s Digest about her protocols on a plane.

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When disinfecting hard surfaces during your next flight, keep in mind that your seat may not need to be wiped down. In 2020, Aaron Milstone, MD, associate hospital epidemiologist at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, told The New York Times that with upholstered seats, using a wipe simply results in a wet seat, essentially causing more germs to spread.

“It’s not bad to wipe down the area around you, but it’s worth remembering that the coronavirus is not going to jump off the seat and get into your mouth,” he explained. “People should be more careful of touching something dirty then putting their hands on their faces.”

Andrew Mehle, PhD, associate professor of medical microbiology and immunology at the University of Wisconsin Madison, also emphasized to the NYT how keeping your hands clean when traveling can make all the difference. “It’s just as important to think about where your hands have been and to wash your hands,” he explained. Even clean, however, keep them off your face.

Studies have continued to show how easily germs can move on a plane. In a 2018 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers set out to discover how frequently passengers are exposed to infectious diseases. Researcher Vicki Stover Hertzberg and her team flew on 10 transcontinental flights, with each one being about three to five hours long. The team then collected 229 environmental samples of the air and surfaces on the plane. Some of the movements documented throughout each flight included if passengers never left their seats or if they got up two or more times.

Results showed that passengers sitting at a window seat had the least contact with anyone on the flight who was potentially sick….