The coronavirus pandemic is getting worse. Since the virus was first recorded in Wuhan, China in December last year, COVID-19 has already inflicted a total number of 7,460,415 people and caused deaths of a total of 419, 049 around the globe as of the writing.
With the increasing number of cases and deaths, financial and economic problems it causes, and fear that embrace every corner of the world, more and more people are becoming desperate on their battle against the coronavirus. Some are even willing to commit dangerous and risky practices just to secure and protect themselves from it.
In a survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), also shared by Live Science, results showed that 4 out of 10 adults in the United State are engaged in dangerous cleaning practices as they believe they could fight the coronavirus by doing such. Due to committing these dangerous practices, a dramatic increase in the number of people reporting poisoning incidents has recently recorded.
One of the dangerous cleaning practices some people do is washing their goods, produce, and foods with bleach. Moreover, some people are even spraying their bodies with disinfectants and inhaling the vapors of it. All these they do to sanitize their body to completely get rid of the coronavirus.
These facts were gathered after the organization conducted an online survey, including 500 adults residing in the US. In the survey, the participants were asked about some cleaning practices they usually do to prevent the coronavirus transmission.
Based on the facts gathered from the survey, the experts learned that among the participants, 39% of them have committed potentially harmful cleaning practices. Almost 19% of these people have used toxic cleaning products to their foods, fruit, and vegetables.
Furthermore, other people belonging from this group have reported using disinfectant to their body or skin. About 10% have used it as a disinfectant or a misting spray in their body, 6% have inhaled its vapor, and 4% have gargled bleach.
With the results of the survey, the authors are worried about the health of its users. These harmful cleaning practices can be very risky to people as it could cause corrosive injury and severe tissue damage. Some of the symptoms of people who have engaged in these practices experienced headaches, dizziness, skin, nose, or eyes irritation, or breathing problems.
Experts say though cleaning and sanitizing surfaces can be very effective in our fight against the coronavirus, as revealed by Forbes, some things should be emphasized too. One of those is the negative effects bleach and other cleaning products can cause to a person once they inhaled, ingested, or applied the product on their skin.
