Whether it's because you're eco-conscious and want to create less waste, because your stock of single-use gloves is dwindling, or because you've heard that disposable gloves should be reserved for frontline workers, you may be wondering: Is it ever safe to clean and reuse disposable gloves? And for that matter, should we be wearing disposable gloves at all? 

Right now, there's a lot of uncertainty regarding the best glove practices to protect ourselves — and others — from spreading the novel coronavirus. So if you have any questions regarding proper disposable glove etiquette during the COVID-19 pandemic, read on to learn what experts have to say.

Can you reuse disposable gloves?

If you do choose to or need to wear disposable gloves during the coronavirus outbreak for whatever reason, Texas-based general surgeon Dr. Charles W. Page doesn't recommend ever washing or reusing them.

"These gloves are so thin and so disposable, they almost tear just by putting them on initially,"he tells Green Matters. "So in order to be able to take them off and sterilize them, you pretty much have to take them off backwards with each finger, which is really hard, so you're more likely to tear the gloves.”

And even if you don't tear the gloves when taking them off, removing contaminated gloves in a way that would allow you to wear them again could accidentally transfer bacteria from the outside of the gloves to the inside, or to your hands.

Rather than reusing single-use gloves, Dr. Page recommends regularly washing hands for at least 20 seconds, or using hand sanitizer when soap and water isn't available.

How often should we change disposable gloves?

For those who do choose or need to wear disposable gloves for work, Dr. Page recommends changing gloves regularly.

"For example, for a stocker at a grocery store, probably the safest thing to do would be to take off the gloves intermittently and put on new gloves, rather than wear the same pair of gloves all day,”he says, noting that wearing the same gloves all day "defeats the purpose.”

It's also important to wash hands before putting on gloves, and to wash hands after you take them off.