Welcome  to  the  Public  health  moment from  the  University  of  Minnesota. The  week  of  December  4  is National  Hand  Washing  Awareness  Week. Why  is  hand  washing  so  important? We  asked  Will  Houston, director  of  the  University  of  Minnesota's Center  for  Animal  Health  and  Food  Safety. Hand  washing  is  the  least expensive  and  most  effective  way you  can  protect  your  own  health  on  a  day  to  day  basis. Our  hands  are  everywhere. We  touch  everything. Everything  we  touch  with  our  hands, we  bring  back  to  our  mouth. How  thoroughly  should  I  wash? Takes  attention  to  some  detail. Meaning  you  want  to  scrub  the  inside  of  your  palms, the  back  of  your  hands,  between your  fingers,  under  your  nails. And  for  20  s  or  more, how  many  times  per  day? The  more  that  you  can  wash  your  hands, the  better  in  the  sense  of minimizing  the  amount  of  exposure  you're  going  to  get. Listen,  we  are  exposed  to germs  every  minute  of  every  day. The  opportunity  is  to  use hand  washing  to  decrease  the  amount  of exposure  and  decrease  the  route of  exposure  after  washing. Do  I  really  want  to  grab the  rest  room  door  handle  when  possible? When  practical,  it's  a  great  strategy to  use  that  paper  towel  after you've  washed  your  hands  to  open  the  door. Pull  the  door  open  with  your  foot, chuck  the  paper  towel  in  the  trash  can  and  go  on your  merry  way  with  another  public  health  moment. I'm  John  Finnegan.