> Water does a reasonable job of removing bacteria -- handwashing studies show this.
If I'm not mistaken, the materials I've seen indicate it's the scrubbing for a certain period of time (20 seconds?) that removes the most bacteria in handwashing. Just putting your hands under running water alone doesn't do much, if anything.
Agreed — scrubbing is important. My comment about "water alone" was in contrast to "water plus body soap." I did not mean to suggest you should not scrub.
If I'm not mistaken, the materials I've seen indicate it's the scrubbing for a certain period of time (20 seconds?) that removes the most bacteria in handwashing. Just putting your hands under running water alone doesn't do much, if anything.