If I were a fashion designer right now, I would be designing and marketing trendy yet practical women’s fashion gloves. Gloves have been around for centuries for a reason. In the last couple of centuries, women wore gloves in part due to an arising awareness of germs.
In the early days of the US, women were the caretakers of children and the home. When they went out into public, they put on their shopping gloves, church gloves, or whatever gloves were appropriate. They did not leave the house without wearing gloves. Women put on gloves heading out the door of their home. They did not handle or touch anything in public without gloves. They did not wear their public gloves inside the home. Men walked next to the street and the women walked next to the building. The fashion industry marketed the heck out of protecting women and children. The reality was that we did not have antibiotics and our medical knowledge was pretty poor. We did understand that you don’t touch your face, you use a handkerchief to cover your mouth and nose when you coughed or sneezed, and you put on your gloves when you left the house. You did not sneeze into your hands and then carry on about your business touching everything and spreading germs. You took the gloves off when you got home and washed the gloves and handkerchiefs. Would a cloth glove prevent the corona virus? Probably not, but it would serve the same purpose as a mask that is not an n95 and not correctly fitted to your face. The n95 mask does not even seal on everyone’s face. They actually make an alternative mask for those people. Anything that prevents the spread of germs is a positive. And why couldn’t we manufacture a fashion glove that can be washed and reused that also seals germs away from the skin?
Middle of the Muddy Road 