Nose for News by Sarah Stultz

 

It started as a tickle in my throat. You know the feeling: When your throat’s a little scratchy and you get that oh-too-familiar feeling that something worse might be on its way?

In less than 24 hours, it developed into a painful sore throat where it was difficult to swallow. And then came the sinus congestion.

Oh yes, school is back in session, and with that often comes an uptick in the reappearance of the common cold and some uglier stuff, too.

As I sit here typing this, I have my bag of cough drops sitting on my desk. (Have I mentioned lately how awful cough drops are? It’s difficult to find one to tolerate.)

Our family has been lucky to avoid some of the worst going around the last couple years — knock on wood — and I’ll be the first to say that I’d take a cold any day over the stomach flu.

That aside, that still doesn’t mean it’s pleasant to have a cold. It got me thinking about how many germs are in our society and where the germiest spots are.

After conducting a quick Google search, it appears some of the top places are playgrounds, public restrooms, grocery stores, gas pumps and public transportation.

It’s things like faucets, door handles and grocery carts — the places that are touched frequently by large numbers of people.

What are the germiest places in our homes?

According to multiple sources, the germiest places at home are the kitchen sink, dish sponges, toothbrush holders, countertops, pet bowls, remote controls and, of course, your phone.

Reading that list is enough to make me want to go out and buy a new toothbrush and clean my kitchen sink.

Wow, talk about nauseating.

Though we can’t walk around with gloves on our hands 24/7 or disinfectant wipes everywhere we go, one simple thing we can do to lower our chances of getting sick is as easy as washing hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds each time. If soap and water are not available, sources recommend trying an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

There are smaller things we can do, too, but it seems like hand-washing is the biggest and easiest.

Maybe I shouldn’t have smiled at my parents, who grabbed a wipe to clean their cart when they came out to visit this summer.

Sarah Stultz is the managing editor of the Tribune. Her column appears every Tuesday.