Stop Leaving Your F*cking Used Gloves Everywhere

People are stockpiling gloves and masks to protect against COVID-19 and then disposing them in the streets

As the novel coronavirus and COVID-19, the deadly respiratory disease it causes continues to spread, the CDC is considering advising all Americans to wear masks in public. However, people have been wearing masks — and gloves — for a while now, with many stockpiling medical-grade masks to the detriment of the healthcare workers who actually need them. If even more people start buying gloves and masks (assuming they can find them), we’re going to exacerbate another problem that’s happening and it’s that people are leaving their f*cking used gloves everywhere.

Discarded gloves are popping up everywhere. On the streets, in parking lots, outside stores. It’s not just an eyesore, it doesn’t just make you an asshole, it’s dangerous.

“Don’t throw these things on the ground. It’s actually dangerous. It actually could put other people in harm’s way,” New York major Bill de Blasio said in a direct address on Thursday, April 2, 2020 (via NY Daily News). “Look, we don’t like littering to begin with, but we especially don’t like littering when there might be a deadly virus on these gloves or masks. I’m not trying to be alarmist, it’s just common sense.”

If the gloves contain traces of the virus, it can spread to the person who picks up the glove to move it into the trash can. People who callously discard their gloves onto the ground are putting the grocery store workers tasked with cleaning the parking lot in jeopardy. De Blasio even urged New Yorkers to call 311 to report anyone they see throwing their gloves on the ground.

“We have to dispose of these gloves properly. By leaving them out on the street or sidewalk, someone else has to pick it up. They may pick up the unwanted germs that you are protecting yourself from,” Dr. Rob Danoff, who oversees a COVID-19 testing site Philadelphia told a local NBC affiliate, while adding that gloves can hold onto viruses and bacteria for several hours.

At first this was more of an issue in densely populated cities, but people are seeing discarded gloves and masks littered all over the U.S.

The fact that so many people are discarding their gloves on the ground means they only care about protecting themselves from coronavirus and have zero regard for the human who is tasked with picking up their potentially infected glove and moving it into the trash can.

Twitter had a few choice words for anyone who thinks it’s okay to drop a potentially infected glove on the ground during a global pandemic.

This is a whole lot of words to say: Throw your disposal gloves in the f*cking trash can, it’s not that hard.