One in five 18- to 24-year-olds don’t wash their hands at festivals. Here’s what you need to know about hand hygiene
Like making best friends with the strangers in the next tent, peeing in a cup because you can’t face the queues for the portaloos and using wet wipes as a shower substitute, being a bit messy is all part of the summer festival experience. But, while you might not wash your hair for days – no matter what state it’s in – and you face is caked in the same glitter for the duration of the festival, there’s one rule that you must follow if you want your festival experience to be as fun as possible: wash your hands regularly.
You might think that should go without saying – but it doesn’t. In 2023, a UK survey of 1,500 18- to 24-year-old festival goers found that 22% of young people do not clean their hands the whole time they are at festival, even if they are there for days. A further 26% said they cleaned their hands only once a day – and 31% admitted to not cleaning their hands even after going to the toilet.
Most participants suggested their lack of hand hygiene was due to queues for facilities – or a lack of facilities. But, in many, much larger studies – conducted when when facilities are available – only 51% of people clean their hands after using the toilet. Even during the COVID pandemic, only 42% of university students in the UK reported “mostly” or “always” cleaning their hands when recommended.
So, although a lack of facilities may be part of the problem at festivals, there is clearly more going on.
Hand washing sounds like such a simple – and quick – thing to do, but research shows that bad habits, being in a rush and having other priorities are all reasons why so many still don’t clean their hands. According to a 2022 study conducted in Canada, some 18- to 25- year-olds reported a perception that cleaning hands in dirty facilities would leave hands more contaminated than skipping hand hygiene altogether.
Other participants said they “forget” to wash their hands. University students sometimes had “unrealistic optimism”, believing that infections happened to other people but were unlikely to happen to them.
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Whether a shortage or lack of facilities is the reason for grubby hands or whether normal hygiene rules don’t seem to fit in with the happy-go-lucky approach of festival life, festival goers should be still be scrupulous about washing their mucky mitts – even if they happily neglect every other part of their body. Why? Because dirty hands can quickly put an end to the fun.
Hand hygiene, washing hands with soap and water or using alcohol hand gel helps prevent infectious diseases, including those associated with diarrhoea, respiratory infections and the flu. The pandemic reminded us of the link between hand hygiene and infections – and also that we might not be washing our hands regularly enough, thoroughly enough or for long enough.
Dealing with a lack of facilities or dirty facilities is reasonably easy if you follow these simple tips:
Pack plenty of alcohol hand gel. And carry it with you during the festival. People got used to keeping hand sanitiser with them during the pandemic and gel is now readily available. Although it is not effective on some bugs, including norovirus, which causes diarrhoea – even more inconvenient at a festival than having to wash your hands regularly – it is better than soap and water in removing most bacteria.
Always wash hands after using the toilet. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people are using those toilets – most of them without washing their hands – so keep yourself happy and healthy by thoroughly disinfecting your hands afterwards.
Always clean your hands before eating. Festival food often involves meals that you eat with your hands, such as burgers, burritos, or pizza. To make sure you don’t pick up a stomach bug, always disinfect your hands beforehand.
Wash your hands with bottled water. Most festival goers carry drinking water in bottles. While it is less effective than using soap, the friction caused by rubbing hands under water not only removes physical and visible dirt but can also loosen bacteria from hands to rinse away. Most festivals have water fill centres to top up bottles. Don’t forget that the water bottles themselves can harbour bacteria. A rinse and rub of the bottle when filling could address that issue too.
Festival goers carrying their own supply of hand sanitiser can clean hands without missing a second of their favourite acts – after, all who wants to queue for the facilities when they could be watching Dua Lipa? For festival organisers, it might be helpful to distribute hand wash reminder stickers at key points such as food outlets, portaloos and mobile taps.
And food outlets should keep a bottle of hand gel at the counter for their patrons to use – it’s the least they can do for customers given the prices they charge at festivals.
But what about those festival goers who think “it won’t happen to me”? Well, infection will – and does – happen to younger people, although they are more likely to recover more quickly than older people.
Remember your festival mantra: clean your hands, avoid getting infections, and have fun – not the runs.
Judith Dyson currently receives funding for research (unrelated to this article) from National Institute of Health Research.
Fiona Cowdell receives funding, not related to this article, from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, EU Horizon 2020 and the Burdett Trust for Nursing.