Handwashing after coming in from the barn or the outhouse was normal behaviour where I grew up, and the soap was yellow Sunlight bars. The smell of that soap takes me right back to early childhood on the dairy farm. Sanitation before handling the cows' important bits or being anywhere near the fresh milk was very stringent.

Children in daycares and children in public schools are sharing illnesses, of course, and so are adults in office buidings, on crowded buses and trains, etc. Facts of modern life and not necessarily a bad thing, IMO. People who don't wash their hands frequently (and make sure their children do), don't cover their mouths when coughing or sneezing (and then don't wash their hands!) are responsible for a lot of illness. People who spit on the sidewalk should simply be dropped off at the nearest landfill and told to stay there. (Alright, that's a little overboard, but it's such a disgusting habit!)