The CDC warns on its “Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings” page that “[g]erms can live under artificial fingernails both before and after using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer and handwashing.” It recommends that healthcare professionals who come into contact with high-risk patients cut their nails short (just a quarter inch or five-eights of a centimeter).
Handwashing and Nails
The reason that long nails, artificial nails, painted nails, and chipped nails are so problematic is that they can interfere with proper handwashing, which remains, along with social distancing, the main tool we have in the fight against CCP virus. “It’s really important to clean thoroughly around and underneath your fingernails,” Dr. Pathak reminds people, and anything that would prevent someone from doing so poses a major risk.Disinfect Nail Equipment
When it comes to cutting nails, the CDC advises, “Before clipping or grooming nails, all equipment (for example, nail clippers and files) should be properly cleaned” with disinfectants such as diluted bleach or alcohol solutions with at least 70 percent alcohol. The agency adds, “Sterilizing equipment before use is especially important when nail tools are shared among a number of people.”How to Cut Your Nails the Safe Way
As for cutting nails, experts recommend going short for hygiene purposes, but not too short. Dr. Jessica Krant, a dermatologist, told the HuffPost that the cut of the nail should follow the natural shape of the nail bed. She warns against cutting too much in the name of hygiene panic. “Do NOT cut all of the white part off,” Dr. Krant warned. “That risks injury to the seal against the nail bed and opens your finger up to infections getting inside.”Now Is the Time to Stop Biting Your Nails
Nail-biting can be a tough habit to break, but if there ever was a time to kick it, it’s now. Dr. Purvi Parikh, an infectious disease specialist at NYU’s Langone Medical Center, told The Cut that putting the bacteria and viruses collecting underneath your nails into your mouth is “the easiest way you can contract any infection.”She notes that CCP virus is far from the only thing that circulates in the winter and early spring. “There are so many infections going around this time of year, from bacterial to viral to the flu,” Dr. Parikh says, adding, “given that we now have this coronavirus, there’s even more reason not to bite your nails.”
While keeping nails short, keeping them away from your mouth, and proper handwashing, including under the nails around the cuticles and nail bed, aren’t guaranteed to keep you from contracting the CCP virus, they are one of your first lines of defense.