The longer the pandemic goes on, the more people start to get tired of all the precautions that must be taken. Disinfecting, hand-washing, social distancing and mask-wearing are annoying to say the least. The longer this drags on, the more you find yourself asking: does this really work? Why are we still doing it?

Why Disinfect?

You know that you are supposed to wash your hands and disinfect commonly touched surfaces, but it might all feel a bit pointless. Why is it so important to avoid contact with public devices and other objects that many people have touched? Basically, because you don’t know if everyone who touched that surface before you had washed their hands. The more commonly touched a surface is, the more likely it is that someone who was sick and hadn’t washed their hands has touched it. If you take the time to disinfect surfaces and your hands, you effectively reset that counter not just for yourself but also for the people around you.

Why Wear a Mask?

The worst thing about Covid-19 is how hard it is to tell if you’re carrying it or not. Maybe you’re infected but you’re not showing symptoms. Maybe the people around you are carrying it and don’t know. Masks are a proven and effective way to reduce transmission. Even basic masks that won’t do as much to protect you from someone else who is carrying the disease can prevent you from spreading it, if you have it without knowing.

Why Socially Distance?

At any given moment, anyone around you might be a carrier that’s why it’s important to social distance. It’s the same principle behind disinfecting. The idea is to reduce the spread. You can’t spread the disease to someone if you’re not in contact with them. That stops the disease in its tracks.

Why Does It Matter?

It matters because lives are at stake. Yes, people are working on a vaccine as fast as they safely can, but even then, there are no guarantees. There is some evidence that people can be reinfected after they’ve had Covid, meaning that there may be no such thing as immunity and a vaccine could be a lot further off than we realize. A vaccine would be great, but we don’t have one yet, so this is the best we can do.

The sort answer is yes it works, and yes we need to keep doing it. The more we all pull together, the faster we can get through this.