Never. Washing. Hand. Again....

[Playinghardball]

President Obama reaches to greet students after speaking at Bladensburg High School in Bladensburg, Md., Monday, April 7

http://theobamadiary.com/2014/04/07/never-washing-hand-again/

[Tarheel_Dem]

1. The looks on their faces is priceless. Love it!

[SevenSixtyTwo]

2. Like Rock Star appeal!

Judging by the expressions. Especially the guy in the middle of the pic. But the expressions on the gals bottom left makes me wonder what's going on with the left hand!

[AverageJoe90]

6. He certainly does. That's part of what makes him so likable. =) nt

[onlyadream]

21. Good one!!! :)

[etherealtruth]

3. I am handwashing obsessed ... I can assure you ....

I would not hurry to wash my hand.

The joyous looks on their faces .... awesome!

[onethatcares]

4. remember

when * did that?

Neither do I.

[randome]

5. The GOP will never have someone this appreciated and well-liked.

Never.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]TECT in the name of the Representative approves of this post.[/center][/font][hr]

[flamingdem]

8. Wow, from the back row

she must have worked on catching his eye, well done!

[Nye Bevan]

9. Nothing against Obama, but you're effectively shaking hands with everyone he has shaken hands with

at that event. And statistically speaking, some of those people are very likely to be sick. I would make sure not to touch my face and wash my hands or use sanitizer at the first possible opportunity.

[longship]

10. The human body has orders of magnitude more bacterial cells than human cells.

If you killed all the bacterial cells in and on your body, you would die!

There are bacteria on your hands that are unique to your hands -- that protect you. There are bacteria in your gut which help digest food. They are all over and inside your body. Wiping them out would be a very, very bad thing.

Get that into your brain. Then, throw away the anti-bacterial hand cleaner and never, ever buy it again. (I use dish soap w/o anti-bacterial in a small pump bottle to wash my hands. I use regular soap in the shower -- unscented Dove.)

Fear of germs is silly.

The last thing you want to use is sanitizer.

[Nye Bevan]

11. So why do hospitals put sanitizer dispensers everywhere? (nt)

[longship]

12. Because hospitals are a vector for infection.

People go there when they are infected. It is not in the interest of the patients that it spreads.

People do not go to your home when they are infected.

Also, the myriad of bacteria on and in your body -- many more bacterial cells than human cells by orders of magnitude -- help you live and, in part, protect you.

That's why you should not use hand sanitizer at home and why hospitals should.

Get it? I hope so.

[Aristus]

14. Hospital and clinical hand sanitizers are alcohol-based.

They kill bacteria through the mechanical process of dehydrating them, not by physiological processes to which bacteria may become resistant. They don't contribute to microbial resistance, the way antibiotic hand soaps do. (We don't use those in my clinic).

And normal skin flora like strep and staph eaily repopulate the hands after washing.

[toby jo]

17. Never used the stuff, I farm, am usually pretty, um, dirty. And healthy.

Same for my kid. Outdoors, everyday, roll around in the stuff.

Dirt is the stuff of life.

Great pic of our Pres. Thanks.

[pangaia]

25. I grew up in NJ..in the late '40s and '50s.

We ATE DIRT!
I never get sick.

[noamnety]

13. I'm with you on this.

Especially at the moment, when my workplace right now has an outbreak of MRSA.

[Logical]

24. FFS, that is what you took away from this photo? Bet you are a blast to hang with. nt

[Nye Bevan]

26. Nope, that's what I took from the subject line "Never washing hands again" (nt)

[LanternWaste]

36. I imagine many people take even the most obvious bit of dramatic license as literal

I imagine many people take even the most obvious bit of dramatic license as literal... regardless of whether it's a sincere mistake or not.

[MineralMan]

33. Goodness! I shall never shake hands with anyone again!

[Nye Bevan]

34. You don't need to refuse to shake hands,

but after having done so, don't touch your face until you have washed your hands.

[MineralMan]

35. You know, I have never followed that advice,

and I have maybe one cold per year. If my hands are dirty, I wash them. After using the toilet, I wash them. Before preparing meals, I wash them. If I touch people people who are clearly ill I wash them. That's it. I'm 68 years old, and have followed the same habit all my life. I do not subscribe to the idea that it is necessary to wash my hands more than that.

I shake hands with people fairly frequently, since I deal with clients in person often. I have never gotten ill after shaking hands with anyone, and I don't go scrub my hands afterwards.

You should do as you think best, I think. But, what you recommend is not really necessary for healthy people.

[tblue37]

37. MM, there are only about 200 rhinoviruses (cold viruses). Once you've had

them, you don't get them agaon. That is why people tend not to get colds after a certain age, unless they've been too isolated to be sufficiently exposed in their younger years.

Until my younger child turned 18, I ran a home daycare, for all 18 years of her life up to then. Kids are walking germ factories. As a result of my exposure to so many kids, I stopped getting colds before I turned 40. Neither of my kids (now 32 and 34) ever get colds either. We got exposed to most such germs during thise daycare years.

One man I dated, though, was always getting colds, even though I never did. I am guessing that although I wasn't getting the colds, I was a carrier for the germs.

[MineralMan]

38. Well, see, my theory is that we are constantly

being inoculated as we go about our daily lives. Being overly concerned with germs tends to make people avoid that constant low-level exposure. Due to that, they fail to develop strong immune systems and are more subject to illnesses caused by viruses and bacteria.

So, I wash my hands as I described. So far, throughout my life, that has worked very well. The one serious illness I have had was viral encephalitis, specifically caused by the Eastern Equine virus. I got that from a mosquito bite. It almost killed me. No amount of handwashing would have prevented that.

In my opinion, there is no need for excessive handwashing. I think it is detrimental to building a strong immune system.

[tblue37]

39. Yep. Childhood allergies might be caused in part by an

immune system that was overprotected from germs during the early years, so that it becomes hyperactive.

[sir pball]

44. I haven't had 200 colds in my life..

And it's only about every third winter than I get the sniffles. Always the same, stuffy for a day and then tremendously watery eyes and accompanying runny nose for a day (my 'leaky face), and then I'm better. Never feel anything bad, though. Literally just those two symptoms.

Probably has to do with literally playing in a swamp when I was a kid. Waist-deep muck is a great place to play tag!

[Nye Bevan]

42. "One doctor’s convincing case for abolishing the handshake"

It’s not just germaphobes that are on high alert during flu season. The threat of being laid up for a week — even two — with a wicked cough, congestion and fever makes nervous Nellies of us all. One seemingly harmless sneeze at this time of year can clear out a subway train.

Public health officials (as always) are advising people to wash their hands to protect themselves from the spread of germs. Others are making a more pronounced stand.

James Hamblin, MD — a writer for The Atlantic — recently made a case for abandoning the handshake altogether. His argument is pretty straightforward: handshakes are bad for our health. He cites a statistic from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that estimates that “up to 80 percent of infections are transmitted by hands.”

According to Hamblin, who puts it quite dramatically: “It would be more sanitary to intertwine almost any other part of our bodies, apart from our lips or genitals.”

http://www.chatelaine.com/health/wellness/do-handshakes-spread-germs/

[MineralMan]

43. What I do is get an influenza vaccine shot

every year. With only one exception, it has worked every year. The exception was in 2012, when I did contract influenza of a type that was not accurately represented in the vaccine. I was mildly ill for three days. The vaccine made my illness less serious than it would have been.

Because I choose to be vaccinated, I do not change my normal habits during flu season. One time, and one time only, it did not completely protect me. That's pretty damned good odds.

I shake hands. I will continue to do that. I make contact with other human beings, and will continue to do that as well. And there it is. You might do something else, and that's fine, too.

[tofuandbeer]

15. I love the guy screaming, and the girl (bottom left last picture) looks like she's crying. :)

[Control-Z]

32. Like Beatles mania. (nt)

[tofuandbeer]

45. Yeah yeah yeah...that's what I was thinking as well.

[Whisp]

16. Obama is a very likeable man, and smart like anything

If I were in that crowd, I would be making all those faces.

These people sure don't think he's a piece of shit used car salesman and neither does most of the sane world.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

22. :)

that kid in the middle who's so overwhelmed....adorable!

[RufusTFirefly]

18. Obligatory compare and contrast

[AAO]

19. Rufus saves the day! I always welcome another reason to hate the bastard.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

23. LOL! n/t

[flamingdem]

28. This about sums it up

Love (hate) this photo!

[Ilsa]

20. I am so happy for those students!

They aren't nitpicking through all of the President's positions on everything. Not yet. They are just thrilled to look up to The Man.

[Samantha]

27. This is so wonderful!

I attended Bladensburg Senior High and graduated in a class of 600 plus students. One of my classmates was responsible for getting the school overhauled and updated.

I live in College Park, Maryland, not too far from the school, and I cannot believe President Obama visited there. Just too, too wonderful.

Sam

[ailsagirl]

29. Just look at their faces!!!

He always makes people just GLOW.

[NYC_SKP]

30. K/R. (nt)

[JI7]

31. the guy next to her

i wonder if he just shook his hand before . if not i hope he got a handshake also .

[ChisolmTrailDem]

40. Pure. Joy. nt

[Bigmack]

41. My mother said the same after shaking JFK's hand....

... A high point of her life, she said. So glad those kids had this experience.

(Sorry, I can't help sharing this thought: Imagine the poor souls who think the same after shaking Dubya's paw.)