Cleaning your coats, hats, and gloves while preparing for the winter season
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Have you or someone in your close circle been hacking or sneezing lately? There's one place this could be coming from and it's one most people might not think about.
We're talking about your coat, sweater, sweatshirt, hat, scarf, or even your gloves.
As the temperatures drop, we reach for things that we haven't worn since the spring and depending on where it was stored, it could have been exposed to a lot of dust, and those allergens can remain on the clothes and jackets.
Dr. Russell Traister, Allergist and Immunologist with AHN says you could even have the allergy irritants there from last spring.
"So, I think it probably would not hurt to wash that stuff. Give it a wash before you wore it for the for the wintertime coming up if you're pulling out your winter jackets and whatnot," Dr. Traister said.
Dr. Traister says that when you wear those items outside right now, going anywhere, or raking leaves, your coat is like an exterior filter that will get microscopically dirty.
"The allergens like ragweed, pollen and then, of course there's some of the outdoor molds can still be still be around as well," Dr. Traister said.
If you're an allergy suffer, cleaning needs to be done on a regular basis.
"It really is important to use hot, hot water, because that's really what you need to when you're doing the laundry to get rid of as much allergens as possible," Dr. Traister said.
A recent study found that only 38% of people wash their coats and even fewer ever wash their scarf.
The allergens and bacteria can be there that can make you sick, so the recommendation is that you wash your coat 3-5 times per season, and your gloves even more often.
Experts say it's unlikely that you can pick up COVID-19, a cold, or the flu from something like a jacket, but it is possible.
