COVID-19: Not touching your face!!

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People say that to avoid getting sick, we should wash our hands a lot and avoid touching our face.

Washing my hands is fine, but I've got so many stims that involve touching my face that I really can't see myself stopping touching my face.

Does that make people with ASD more susceptible to COVID-19 than NTs?

My totally unscientific hunch is we are less susceptable due to less social exposure.

I sometimes get a small hair in my mouth that I HAVE to remove right away, as I hate swallowing hairs , it just grosses me out.
So that sometimes means I have to put my finger in my mouth to remove it, and if I wait until I find a sink to wash my hands I feel like the hair moves to the back of my mouth.

I also touch my face if I have an itch, as I think it's a little bug trying to bite. So it's hard not to touch my face when out and about. I do carry hand gel in my bag so I suppose I could use that before touching my face or tongue.

For the past few days I have tried to observe that rule too. It is impossible. There is always something tickling my face that I have to scratch or I have to wipe a hair away.

And another problem is that it's also pollen season again and my allergies have started, which make my nose and my eyes itch. There is just no way around touching my face.

Hand washing is easy for me to observe, not touching my face is nearly impossible.

I think that hunch makes perfect sense. This is one situation where our poor neurotypcal brothers and sisters are at a distinct disadvantage. Neurotypicals as a group seem far more likely to be exposed to the virus than autistic people cause they spend more time around people who are the potential carriers of the virus.

Stim away!

My face, ears and scalp itch all the time so it's really impossible for me to stop touching. I commute by public transport for two hours a day going to work so I am sure I will catch something. I am really indifferent about the possibility. Not that I don't take the precautions.

This concerns me as well. Face rubbing is one of my stress stims and has been as long as I can remember. It's like a tic in that if I'm really stressed, it's practically unbearable if I would refrain from rubbing my face.

I could never remember to stop touching my face. It's too much of a habit and my short-term memory is too bad. Actually, coronavirus, if you do get it, is not really a big deal unless you have certain other medical conditions. I've had the flu this year already, so I'm not at all concerned. I'm more annoyed/concerned that I won't be making any money for the next two weeks because the schools are shut down and I work at a school. But I understand the need to protect people who could actually die if they catch it.
As for aspies being more vulnerable, I guess it would depend on the person and how strong their immune system is and if they have medical problems.

It's fine for you to touch your face if your hands have been washed thoroughly. Don't stress out in fear. Carry a little thing of really good hand sanitizer for times that you can't actually wash your hands. But if you are killing bacteria and viruses on your hands, they won't reach your face when you touch it.

Face rub to your heart's content. Just make sure you do it with properly washed hands. You can also get surgical gloves if you need them. No one will think that is weird right now. I saw a lady wearing them and a face mask at the store yesterday. No one was looking at her funny. Everyone understands.

I'm not that worried because I am mainly isolated but if I lived where I did before with all those elderly people...

But there is the fact I get my food stamps on Sunday and I'm kinda worried how the stores will be like...

Oh, I have toilet paper already lol, bought it before the tp apocalypse!! !

Same. It would be virtually impossible for me to stop stimming. I've even been medicated to stop the stims, but it doesn't work. There's no way I'm even going to try. Keeping clean is more important than keeping my hands still.

Why were you medicated to stop stimming? That is cruel.

IKR!! That is what concerns me the most is the unavailability of TP!

Self-harm. It wasn't to stop all stimming, just the harmful ones. Risperidone can help BFRBs.