I always thought the main reason for removing shoes upon entering certain households was to keep the place clean.
Turns out that the main reason we should do it is to respect the household, because scientific tests have shown that very few germs make it into the house on shoes.
We might be better off getting guests to wash their hands when they enter.
At least that’s according to Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.
In most cases, the small surface area of shoe bottoms poses minimal risk to household health. Instead, he states microbes readily adapt to the home environment. He also underscores the
importance of practicing good hand hygiene, as studies have shown hands to be a more significant carrier of germs.
