Proper hand washing — some songs to help ensure you’re doing it correctly

“Ra-ra-ah-ah-ah.” Lady Gaga is here to keep you healthy.

By USA TODAY

Gary Dinges, USA TODAY

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests wetting your hands, adding soap and then scrubbing for a minimum of 20 seconds to prevent the spread of coronavirus and other illnesses. — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests wetting your hands, adding soap and then scrubbing for a minimum of 20 seconds to prevent the spread of coronavirus and other illnesses.

As coronavirus fears continue to grow, health experts are urging Americans to take precautions, including regularly washing their hands.

As of Thursday, there were more than 160 confirmed coronavirus cases in the U.S. Worldwide, an estimated 3,300 people have died so far from the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests wetting your hands, adding soap and then scrubbing for a minimum of 20 seconds to prevent the spread of coronavirus and other illnesses.

How do you know if you’ve scrubbed long enough? The CDC suggests this: “Need a timer? Hum the ‘Happy Birthday’ song from beginning to end twice.”

But that’s not the only tune that fills the bill. Kids and teens might need more hip “coaching” to follow proper hand washing guidelines. The friendly folks on the Internet are here to help, offering up a variety of alternative songs you can also sing to make sure you’ve washed your hands for long enough.

‘Stayin’ Alive’

The Bee Gees’ classic has a chorus that is just around the right amount of time you need to time your hand-washing, one Twitter user pointed out.

“‘Stayin’ Alive’ by the Bee Gees has a chorus that is 24 seconds long, and ALSO doubles as the cadence for doing CPR massage. One song, two vital health uses!” wrote @tom_forsyth in response to a Twitter thread about alternative songs to “Happy Birthday” that has garnered more than 120,000 retweets and 3,000 replies.

‘Thriller’

Another classic, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,” also fits the bill, according to @santikapowski.

He suggests humming a portion of the catchy tune from 1982, a featured track on Jackson’s “The King of Pop” album. It lasts “22 secs if you (get) the hee-hees and Aaows right, obviously.”

‘Bad Romance’

”Ra-ra-ah-ah-ah.” Lady Gaga is here to keep you healthy.

Her “Bad Romance” can help pass the time while you’re scrubbing away, @ctdicanio points out. To be safe, we’d suggest doing this one two times since depending on how you sing it, you could come up short