Disinfecting your bank card once a week, an expert reveals

Expert reveals you should be disinfecting your bank card once a week because it could be contaminated from previous users all touching the same reader amid coronavirus outbreak

Keeping your card clean - is in your hands

A Physician has revealed how debit and credit cards can carry microbes from those who have used the same card reader before you, including bacteria such as salmonella and E.Coli.

Former orthopaedic surgeon Dr Chike Emeagi, Medical Director of Hampstead Aesthetics Clinic and Dr Chike Clinics, told FEMAIL that while the risk is low, it is still possible for corona virus particles to survive long enough on the flat surface of a card reader to be transferred to your card. 

He explained that germs can hide in the nooks and crannies of watches, rings, credit cards and bank notes, and recommends disinfecting your cards and jewelry once a week.

Comparing credit cards to touching door knobs and handles, he suggested using disinfectant wipes to clean cards, and warm water and soap for jewelry. 

Dr Chike said: 'I can certainly envisage a scenario where your card could be contaminated with microbes from those whom have used the exact same card reader previously. 

'Germs can hide in nooks and crannies in objects including watches, rings, credit cards, coins and bank notes - things we ordinarily would not worry about.

'Because of limited knowledge of this virus and how it came about extreme vigilance to hygiene is paramount.  

'The issue is that from an infection point of view, handling a credit card is similar to touching any other surface - doorknobs, stair-rails etc.

'Any surface has potential to harbor germs-bacteria and viruses.' 

The World Health organisation recently released a statement describing the risk as 'low', adding: 'With proper hand cleaning, the risk of being infected with the new corona virus by touching objects, including coins, banknotes or indeed credit cards, is very low,' World Health organisation-WHO. 

Various studies have confirmed that the virus can remain viable in the air for up to three hours, on copper for up to four hours, on cardboard up to 24 hours and on plastic and stainless steel up to 72 hours.

Dr Chike concluded: 'This suggests the virus could live on credit cards anything from hours to days.   

'The bacterial bugs commonly found on cards include  staphylococcus aureus, the cause of staph (skin) infections, salmonella enterica and E.Coli, a common cause of food poisoning.

'It important to note that the possibility of catching corona virus through your card is low but theoretical. 

'I would recommend using soap and water or just hot water for jewelry and disinfectant wipe for credit cards - especially the cards you use regularly. 

'The frictional force of wiping is said to be sufficient to wipe away any virus, especially with soap or chloride -based cleaners.

'You could also wear gloves when holding your card.

'But the main consideration is to use caution. wash your hands after handling anything that you think could be contaminated'.

By JESSICA RACH FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 02:44 EDT, 29 March 2020 | UPDATED: 11:03 EDT, 29 March 2020

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Posted in: antimicrobial cards,ATM,BANKING,Corona,covid,credit card may get you sick,credit cards,fomite,virus

How Long Can Viruses Live on Surfaces?

The novel coronavirus is spreading across the globe in record time. But how long can it live on surfaces?

Between all those door handles, credit card keypads and even cell phones, we touch so many surfaces daily. It's just a fact of life. But when it's flu season — or there's an outbreak of any other virus — this simple act of touching stuff can spread germs.

How Long Can Viruses Live on Surfaces

In many cases, it's cause for concern because some viruses can live on surfaces for hours — or even weeks. What's not always clear is how long a surface, like a credit card terminal at the gas pump, might stay contaminated if a sick person sneezes on it.
Part of the uncertainty is because viruses are diverse and have a variety of surface survival rates. There isn't even a hard-and-fast rule for how long a virus can survive outside of a host. The type of surface and environmental temperature and humidity all come into play, too. So which surfaces are safe to touch, and how often do we need to disinfect them?

Before we even discuss how long viruses can live on a surface, we have to understand how viruses work.
No Virus Is an Island

Viruses don't have the right enzymes to create the chemical reactions necessary for reproduction. Instead, viruses need a host cell, which can be bacteria, fungi, a plant or an animal, including a human. With help from the host, viruses are then able to multiply. That's good for the virus but generally bad for the host.

Without the host cell, a virus cannot survive long term; however, it does have a short window of time during which it can function in hopes of attaching to (aka infecting) a new host.

Outside its host, a virus can be divided into two categories — either it can be intact and remain infectious or it is simply identifiable, which means it has enough genetic material to be identified but is no longer capable of attaching to host cells, Julia Griffin and Nsikan Akpan wrote in article for PBS News Hour. At the point that a virus on a surface is only identifiable, it won't be able to cause harm.

Sneezing and coughing into your bent elbow or a tissue is very important to prevent the spread of viruses onto surfaces.

VICKI SMITH/GETTY IMAGES
How Long Can Viruses Live on Surfaces?

The length of time that viruses can live on surfaces and remain infectious varies greatly by pathogen, Dr. Alicia Kraay, postdoctoral fellow in epidemiology at Emory University, explains in an email. There are baseline differences between viruses. For example, rhinovirus — the viruses that cause the common cold — will survive for less than an hour on surfaces. However, others such as the norovirus, which is a virus that can cause vomiting and diarrhea — can survive for weeks. Not surprisingly, with its ability to live this long outside of a host, norovirus can spread both through infected people and through contaminated foods and surfaces.

The research into how long COVID-19 can survive on surfaces is new and ongoing. A March 13 study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and multiple universities compared the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) with SARS-CoV-1, the most closely related human coronavirus and the virus responsible for the 2003 epidemic. The non-peer-reviewed study found that the two viruses have similar viability in the environment, however, the study determined the novel coronavirus could survive up to three days on stainless steel and plastic surfaces. Survival on other surfaces was lower — just one day on cardboard and four hours on copper. The results indicated that novel coronavirus can live in the air for hours and on surfaces up to days.

Another research study published March 17, 2020, in the New England Journal of Medicine by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Princeton University also found that the stability of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) was similar to that of SARS-CoV-1 under the experimental circumstances tested. However, novel coronavirus was more stable than SARS-CoV-1. In their experiments, SARS-CoV-2 remained viable in aerosol form for up to three hours. Viable coronavirus was and detected on plastic and stainless steel up to 72 hours after application. No viable coronavirus was measured after four hours on copper surfaces, and 24 hours on cardboard.
What Factors Affect Virus Survival Rates?

If it seems like it should be a simple test to pinpoint an outside-host survival period, it's more complicated than just spraying some virus on a surface and waiting to see what happens. In fact, in the article for PBS News Hour, Griffin and Akpan wrote that there isn't a lot of "rigorous data" on how long cold and flu viruses remain infectious.

"Generally, survival of pathogens on fomites [objects or materials likely to carry infection] is determined by inoculating a surface with a known quantity of virus and then sampling at various time intervals to determine the amount recovered," Kraay says. "Scientists use this information to estimate a decay curve for the pathogen on the particular surface, which can be extrapolated to longer time intervals."

The NIH and CDC team who studied surface variation for coronavirus is already looking into virus viability in different matrices, as well as in varying environmental conditions.

Although viruses have differing baseline rates of survival on surfaces, additional factors affect their ability to endure outside of a host. Temperature, humidity and surface properties can all affect survival, according to Kraay.

"In general, viruses survive longest at lower temperatures, higher humidity and [on] non-porous surfaces (like stainless steel)," she says. "However, some viruses do well at low humidity."

Early indications show that the coronavirus can be transmitted in hot and humid climates.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

In addition to surface material and environment, the amount of virus on the surface can also help determine how long it will survive, explains James M. Steckelberg, M.D. in an article for the Mayo Clinic. While it is possible to spread viruses like cold and flu through sharing objects, personal contact is the most common mechanism of spreading viruses.

There have been a lot of theories about whether coronavirus will lessen during warmer months because dry, cold air tends to provide favorable conditions for flu transmission. But Dr. Marc Lipsitch, professor of epidemiology and director, Center for Communicable Diseases Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health says when it comes to coronaviruses, the "relevance of this factor is unknown."
Can You Get a Virus From a Surface?

If you touch a surface that is contaminated with a virus — including COVID-19 — does that mean you will get the virus? Not necessarily. But if you don't immediately wash your hands, and then touch your mouth, nose or eyes, you could transmit the virus. However, the CDC says surface contamination isn't considered the most likely way to get coronavirus. Without a host, viruses begin to degrade pretty quickly, so what is on the surface becomes less and less potent.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), explained during the March 13, 2020, CNN/Facebook Global Coronavirus Town Hall that when considering the viability of a virus on various substances, it is probably measured in a couple of hours. While he recommends wiping down surfaces — like doorknobs and cellphone screens — when you can, he cautioned against worrying about money and mail.

In the end, despite the differences in viability on surfaces among pathogens, fomites and contexts, the No. 1 recommendation for preventing the spread of viruses is standard. Wash your hands.

BY CARRIE WHITNEY, PH.D. MAR 16, 2020

This article was first published on March 16, 2020, and last updated on March 18, 2020.\ https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/cellular-microscopic/long-can-viruses-live-on-surfaces.htm

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How to clean your credit cards

How to clean your credit cards

When we talk about the prevention of spreading germs, there are a few things that immediately come to mind — washing your hands, disinfecting common surfaces and practicing social distancing whenever possible. But there are a few everyday items that may not be top of mind when we consider what we should regularly clean, including what’s in our wallets.



Every time we buy groceries, grab takeout or make any other purchase, we’ll more than likely touch our credit card to do so. Whether you’re tapping to pay, swiping your card or inserting the chip, that means your card is touching where hundreds or even thousands of cards have also touched recently.

How coronavirus spreads

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), coronavirus is a respiratory virus that primarily spreads through droplets of saliva and mucus, which can be generated and spread when we sneeze, cough or even breathe and talk. It causes the disease COVID-19.

But that doesn’t mean you have to be sneezed on to contract the virus. You can get these micro-droplets on your hands by touching surfaces an infected person has recently touched and then touching your face. Considering there are studies that say the average person touches their face 23 times an hour, consistently washing your hands and limiting the possibility of coming into contact with the virus at all is important.

If you’re using your credit card when you do have to go out for essentials like groceries, that’s another potential touchpoint.

A 2018 study by CreditCards.com and the University of Texas at Austin did find that while credit cards were host to a lot of bacteria and other potentially harmful microbes, they were unlikely to get a normal person sick. However, with research suggesting that the coronavirus can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces, such as a credit card, for up to nine days, it’s not a bad idea to add your credit cards and wallet to your list of things to disinfect.

How to clean your credit cards
Fortunately, disinfecting your credit cards isn’t a complicated process and you can do with household items.
The easiest way to clean your cards is by using the same technique you use for your hands: soap and warm water. Like washing your hands, you should lightly rub for at least 20 seconds. You can sing “Happy Birthday” twice through, or get more creative — Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”

has a chorus that lasts 20 seconds, as does Beyonce’s “Love on Top.” I’m a fan of using the chorus to the song “My Shot” from Hamilton.

You can also use one of the EPA-approved disinfectants to use against COVID-19, which includes many household wipes and sprays such as Clorox. For the tech lover, you can also use a UV sterilizer, since UV rays kill viruses and bacteria.
Soap and water is a simple, effective way to clean your credit cards.

Will disinfectants hurt my credit card?
Short answer? No.
Credit cards, both plastic and metal, are made to be waterproof. Your card should also be able to withstand products such as bleach, vinegar or alcohol. I don’t recommend soaking your cards in any corrosive liquids, but a quick wipe-down with a Clorox wipe or a 20-second wash with some soap and water won’t render them useless.

Keeping your cards clean could help them stand the test of time. Dirt and grime can build up on your cards, which can scrape at EMV chips and magnetic strips. It’s not a good idea to scrub your cards with an abrasive of any kind, but a gentle cleaning can help keep dirt from building up while killing COVID-19 germs — two birds, one Clorox wipe.
Tips for using card readers and pin pads
Another potentially germy area is the card reader and pin pad that you use to make payments at stores. In the U.S., chip-and-signature is the most common authorization method for payments. This means that even if you have a contactless card, you might be required to use a stylus, your finger or a pen to sign your signature. Those surfaces have been touched by anyone who came before you.

There’s no need to go out and buy medical gloves for your grocery shopping excursions. You should leave the medical equipment such as gloves to the doctors, nurses and other “front lines” workers who are highly at-risk.
The best thing you can do is immediately disinfect your hands after you pay, and avoid touching your face (which is a best practice you should be following anyway).

Bottom line
For most people, your credit cards don’t pose too much of a threat. However, as COVID-19 continues to spread in communities throughout the U.S., it’s understandable to want to ensure you’re limiting exposure to the virus as much as possible — including by cleaning your credit cards.

Luckily, disinfecting your cards isn’t a complicated process. Good ole’ soap and water will do the job just fine, or you can use a disinfectant to gently wipe down your cards after you use them.

But remember, the best thing we can all do to stop the spread of this virus is to follow CDC and WHO recommendations, including practicing social distancing, regularly washing your hands (for at least 20 seconds) and avoiding touching your face

Madison Blancaflo The Points Guys | March 24, 2020
How to clean your credit cards

.https://thepointsguy.com/guide/how-to-clean-your-credit-cards/

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