TORONTO -- Good news for those struggling to keep their hands away from their faces during the fight to limit the spread of COVID-19 -- now there’s a song to help you remember.
Australian comedian Martin Ingle debuted the ditty in a video posted to social media on Friday. In the clip, he strums a ukulele and puts the message from health officials to music:
“Whatever you do, don’t touch your face,” he sings. “Keep your hands in your personal space.”
It’s a timely reminder. Globally, more than 162,000 cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed, with more than 6,000 deaths.
One of the many instructions from health officials is for individuals to refrain from touching their face. The rationale is that if a person has touched a surface that has been contaminated with the virus -- such as a window or a subway pole that an infected person coughed on -- they could then contract the virus themselves by transferring contamination from their hands to their mouth, nose or eyes.
Adding a sense of fun to combat the fear is a tactic that’s already been used with hand-washing. The internet has flooded with memes sharing different songs a person can sing while washing their hands to ensure that they’re washing for the proper 20 seconds.
Ingle’s song, which by Sunday had more than 160,000 views across various platforms, tries out the same musical tactic.
“Most people with the virus won’t get too sick at all,” Ingle sings in the video. “But they can still be carriers and totally doom us all. People are disgusting. People are quite gross. Just ask Tom Hanks: all he had to do was walk around the Gold Coast! Don’t touch your face.”
Hanks tested positive for COVID-19 while in Australia.
It’s not easy to break the habit of touching your face. It starts early -- fetuses touch their own faces in the womb. Even dogs and cats do it.
A 2015 study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found that on average, 26 people under observation touched their face 23 times per hour. When they reached up to their faces, they touched either their mouth, nose, eyes or a combination of the three around 44 per cent of the time.
Some of the strategies for avoiding the urge to touch your face can be crossing your hands or palming a stress ball. Giving your hands something to do -- such as, perhaps, strumming a ukulele -- will help you catch yourself if the unconscious urge to scratch your cheek strikes.
Ingle’s song covers more than just the recommendation to avoid touching your face. He reminds others to wash their hands, avoid visiting the elderly, leave face masks to those who need them and stay home instead of socializing.
“Even if you don’t show symptoms, even if you’re feeling strong,” he sang. “Even if you ‘just don’t get sick.’ Just admit you’re wrong. Greet people with your elbow or talk over the phone. It took a global epidemic to help us see we’re not alone.”
