Glove
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

Stop the Spread of Littering Contaminated Gloves and Masks, Please

At the time this article was written, at least 146,198 people — or slightly greater than 6.75 percent — have died of the minimum of 2,164,111 confirmed cases worldwide, according to this situation dashboard from the World Health Organization pertaining to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus…

Stop the Spread of Littering Contaminated Gloves and Masks, Please

…and in an effort to slow its spread in the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an advisory on Friday, April 3, 2020 with the recommendation of covering your face with a simple cloth face covering — such as a scarf as one of many examples — which is different than what both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization previously advised.

Ever since the recommendation to wear something to cover a face during the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic was endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, substantially more people started to wear not only masks and other face coverings; but also gloves as well…

…and as a result, a new problem is occurring, as instead of following the guidelines of what to properly do after wearing masks and gloves, some people are simply tossing them onto the ground and littering the landscape.

a black glove on grass
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

I have been walking many miles during the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic, and I started to notice discarded gloves on the ground…

a black glove on grass
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

…such as in the grass right by a sidewalk…

a blue glove on the ground next to a road
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

…or on the side of a roadway.

a blue glove on the ground
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

Properly discarding a glove would be similar to properly discarding a mask: discard it immediately in a closed bin; and then afterwards, clean hands with alcohol-based hand rub or soap and water.

a black glove on a pole
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

Improperly discarding a glove or a mask could possibly expose other people to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus, which potentially defeats the purpose of wearing a glove or a mask in the first place…

a black glove on grass
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

…not to mention that simply throwing gloves or masks on the ground is a form of littering.

a glove on the ground
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

All kinds of gloves seem to be used — and I do not even know what the mess is in the photograph below.

a blue towel on the ground
Photograph ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

Summary

The photographs in this article only illustrated part of the problem, as I have seen more gloves and other protective items improperly discarded elsewhere.

If you are going to use a mask or gloves, please discard them properly to help prevent the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus. Simply throwing them on the ground only potentially creates new issues and does not help to solve the original problem.

This article is the latest in a series pertaining to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus — which is also known as COVID-19 or 2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2 — pandemic in an effort to get the facts out with information derived from reliable sources…

…as well as attempt to maintain a reasoned and sensible ongoing discussion towards how to resolve this pandemic.

Other articles at The Gate which pertain to the 2019 Novel Coronavirus include:

All photographs ©2020 by Brian Cohen.

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