What you can do to prevent yourself from contracting the coronavirus

Your first and best defense against getting sick is already in your home, but 95 percent of people are doing it wrong when it comes to keeping your living area disease-free in the chance the coronavirus makes it to Southwest Florida.

Experts say most people are washing their hands is seven seconds or less— which is simply not long enough.

The Center for Disease Control says proper handwashing contains five steps before you even reach for the soap.

The center says you should rinse your hands then you’ll want to lather on your soap, even scrubbing under your nails to get every part of the hand clean.

This should be done for at least 20 seconds or roughly the time it takes you to sing the Happy Birthday Song two times— then you can rinse and dry your hands.

We spoke with one doctor who says everything you come in contact with including your cell phone, door handles, keyboards at work can all contain tons of bacteria that can collect on your skin.

“Hands like the rest of the skin on your body is full of bacteria. Most of the time this bacteria co-habitats peacefully with us but in situations where the patient may be sick or immune-compromised— especially in a hospital setting this bacteria can become opportunistically infectious,” said Dr. William Liu of Golisano Children’s Hospital.

If you don’t have soap and water then hand sanitizer is always a good backup to use, but you’ll want to check the label and make sure it contains 60 percent alcohol.