“Below are the some of the CDC guidelines regarding washing your hands. Washing should be done even without the presence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Appropriate washing can also prevent the transmission of diarrheal infections and other person-to-person illnesses.
“How Germs Spread
Washing hands can keep you healthy and prevent the spread of respiratory and diarrheal infections from one person to the next. Germs can spread from other people or surfaces when you: Touch your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. Prepare or eat food and drinks with unwashed hands. Touch a contaminated surface or objects, Blow your nose, cough, or sneeze into hands and then touch other people’s hands or common objects.
Key Times to Wash Hands: You can help yourself and your loved ones stay healthy by washing your hands often, especially during these key times when you are likely to get and spread germs: Before, during, and after preparing food. Before eating food. Before and after caring for someone at home who is sick with vomiting or diarrhea. Before and after treating a cut or wound. After using the toilet. After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet. After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing. After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste. After handling pet food or pet treats. After touching garbage. During the COVID-19 pandemic, you should also clean hands: After you have been in a public place and touched an item or surface that may be frequently touched by other people, such as door handles, tables, gas pumps, shopping carts, or electronic cashier registers/screens, etc. Before touching your eyes, nose, or mouth because that’s how germs enter our bodies.
Follow Five Steps to Wash Your Hands the Right Way. Washing your hands is easy, and it’s one of the most effective ways to prevent the spread of germs. Clean hands can stop germs from spreading from one person to another and throughout an entire community—from your home and workplace to childcare facilities and hospitals. Follow these five steps every time. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? [Author: Use this Instructable.] Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice. Rinse your hands well under clean running water. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.”
The sad reality is that we usually do not wash our hands for a sufficient time. This Instructable hopes to insure we wash our hands in keeping with CDC guidlines. The CDC recommends that we wash our hands for at least twenty (20) seconds, at the key times stated above. This Instuctable lights LEDs at five (5) second intervals, that allow us to see the time from five (5) seconds to sixty (60) seconds. It helps identify when twenty (20) seconds have past, and it continues to provide timing information, up to sixty (60) seconds should we chose to wash longer than the CDC recommendation.
There are a number of Instructables that have been published to assist Makers to follow CDC hand washing guidelines. However, I believe this is the easiest to build and has the greatest time range.
It is also simple to construct and fun to use.
Supplies:
The supplies needed for this project are,
- An Arduino UNO
- A small breadboard
- An IR Obstacle Avoidance Module
- Four (4) LEDs. ( I used four (4) different colored 10 mm LEDs here, but 3mm, 5mm, or 8mm LEDs will work as well, and the LEDs need not be different colors.) Note: the voltage specifications of LEDs change with their size and color. For the 10mm LEDs I used here, these are,
Yellow: 1.8 - 2.2 (VDC)
Green: 2.8 - 3.0 (VDC)
Blue: 2.8 - 3.0 (VDC)
Red: 1.8 - 2.2 (VDC)
Although the actual current depends on the size and color of the LED and the value of the current-limiting resistor, the current in each LED circuit is approximately 20ma.
- Four (4) resistors. (I used two (2) 220 ohm and two (2) 330 ohm resistors in this Instructable, as noted above the resistance of LEDs change with their size and color, and I wanted to insure all LEDs were easy to see. I used 1 watt resistors here, but any resistor with a rating of 1/4 watt of greater should work.)
- Dupont Male-to-Male cables to connect components.
I also used an experimental platform, to make it easier to move the assembly as a unit. Fortunately an experimental platform is not needed, although it may prove helpful.”