Wash your hands!

By Angie Drobnic Holan
Published on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 6:23 p.m.

Related rulings:

Washing your hands and covering your mouth when you cough "makes a huge difference" in reducing transmission of the flu.

Barack Obama, Wednesday, April 29th, 2009.

Ruling: True | Details

Share this article:

Tweet

Hand-washing advice: sing "Happy Birthday" to make sure you wash long enough.

President Barack Obama was asked about swine flu at a prime-time news conference marking his first 100 days in office. The reporter wanted to know if Obama would consider quarantines or closing the border with Mexico, where the flu appears to have started.

Obama said his health advisers were not recommending closing the border.

"But the most important thing right now that public health officials have indicated is that we treat this the same way that we would treat other flu outbreaks, just understanding that because this is a new strain, we don't yet know how it will respond to that," Obama said.

"So wash your hands when you shake hands. Cover your mouth when you cough. I know it sounds trivial, but it makes a huge difference," Obama said. "If you are sick, stay home. If your child is sick, keep them out of school. If you are feeling certain flu symptoms, don't get on an airplane, don't get on any system of public transportation where you're confined and you could potentially spread the virus."

We wondered about hand-washing and covering your mouth when you cough. Have our mothers been right all these years?

Yes. Check our report on this one to see why Obama earns a True.