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

9 Money Habits That Can Literally Make You Sick

Click here for our new sales flyer: Antimicrobial Cards Flyer

9 Money Habits That Can Literally Make You Sick 

by Jodi Helmer CBS Moneywatch | Apr 21, 2011

You already know that dropping a few dollars at the fast-food drive-through every day will take its toll on your health — but you might be surprised to learn about other spending habits that could be harming your health and well-being. Before you whip out your credit card to pay for groceries one more time, read the following danger signs.

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Posted in: American Journal of Infection Control | hospital acquired infections | mobile phone infections | mobile phone MRSA |,credit card may get you sick,credit cards,money,staph,wallet

Surprising Germ Havens: Supermarket

Surprising Germ Havens: At The Grocery Store
Those plastic covers made for the seat area of the shopping cart were created for good reason: “We find more E. coli on shopping carts than on toilet seats,” Dr. Gerba says. “In addition to germs from food, children’s dirty bottoms are going in the seat—and the carts are hardly ever cleaned.”

The checkout screens where you swipe your credit or ATM card aren’t great, either. In some grocery stores, up to 80% have E. colion them—likely picked up from people handling leaky meat packages and unwashed produce, then touching the screen. Another germy spot: Your reusable grocery bag. Yes, you’re being environmentally conscious, but bacteria from meat and produce from your last trip are probably still in there. “Only 3% of people surveyed say they have ever washed their totes, and half use them for carrying other things, like dirty clothes,” Dr. Gerba says. “That’s like hauling your groceries home in your dirty underwear.”

Keep It Clean: Wipe grocery cart handles and seats with a disinfecting wipe (look for a dispenser in your supermarket) and line the seat area with a plastic bag before wheeling it around the store. After leaving the store, be sure to wash your hands or apply sanitizing hand gel. In addition to washing reusable bags regularly, set one aside for raw meats, or wrap meat packages in a plastic bag before putting them in your tote.

What about money and pens? Yes, they’ve been handled by hundreds of people, but your risk of contamination from money is low because germs stick to the porous fibers of paper bills and don’t transfer easily to your hands, Dr. Gerba says. Nickel and copper have antimicrobial properties that make coins relatively low-risk. Public pens have also come up surprisingly clean in Dr. Gerba’s research. “In some stores, pens are disinfected at the end of the day,” he says.

The Bottom of Your Bag, Suitcase or Backpack

You come home after your bag has been in a shopping cart, on the floor and who knows where else and plop it on the kitchen counter. Get ready for the gross factor: Research shows that bacteria like E. coli cling to the bottom of 18% of bags. Keep bags off the floor and whatever you do, don’t set a bag on any surface where food is made or eaten.

Woman’s Day “No More Colds! What Really Kills Germs.” 

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Posted in: backpack,bag,credit card may get you sick,drug stores,E.Coli,GERMS,grocery cart,grocery cart handles,grocery stores,money,pens,purse,suitcase,supermarket

Campaign for a Healthy Denver | employees talk about working while ill

"Sick Rick" -- a volunteer dressed as a sick face surrounded by germs
 who squirts Silly String out of holes in the costume’s nose and mouth
was introduced Thursday as a mascot by the pro-Initiative 300 campaign.

Campaign for a Healthy Denver, which supports a paid-sick-leave ordinance in Denver, presented three restaurant workers Thursday who backed one of their main arguments in favor of Initiative 300: They said they’ve gone to work sick and likely gotten customers ill because their companies don’t grant paid sick days.

The move was meant to counter the claims of restaurant owners, who almost universally oppose Initiative 300, which will be on the November ballot. The owners say workers don’t come in sick because management encourages them to switch shifts with co-workers, and stay home to get well.

It also continued the theme of the Campaign for a Healthy Denver: The initiative is about improving public health, not about the negative impact on jobs and the economy that opponents say it will have.

"When you hand me your credit card to pay for your grande nonfat latte and I hand it back, I may be getting you sick," said Laura Baker, a Starbucks barista who acknowledged going into work when ill because she couldn’t afford to lose the $65 per shift she earns. "It’s places like restaurants and coffee shops and places like that that need paid sick days the most because we’re working for a low wage ... and can’t afford to stay at home," she said.

Keep Denver Competitive, the committee of business leaders fighting Initiative 300, responded that workers who admit to coming to work sick are acting illegally, and that proponents’ threats don’t change the fact that companies will cut jobs to fund paid sick leave.

"They should call the health department, because that’s already against the law," spokesman George Merritt said of the workers admitting they have come to work ill. "This group is pulling a lot of stunts to distract from the fact that people who need jobs, local businesses and city officials have all said Denver can’t afford Initiative 300."

The initiative would require that any business in Denver offer one hour of paid sick leave to employees for every 30 hours worked, capped at nine sick days per year for companies of 10 or more workers and five days per year for smaller businesses. It also would require that any employee of a company located outside city limits, who spends at least 40 hours a year working in the city, be covered by the law for the time they work in Denver.

The other two restaurant workers declined to give their full names for fear of being fired. One was a server at a "trendy" downtown restaurant who said he’s gone into work with “terrible head colds” even when handling food, fearing he would lose pay or even his job.

Initiative proponents also introduced a new mascot at the news conference — "Sick Rick," a volunteer dressed as a sick face surrounded by germs who squirts Silly String out of holes in the costume’s nose and mouth. Sick Rick will visit Denver businesses and pass out flyers, campaign leaders said.

Denver Business Journal | Ed Sealover, Reporter 

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Posted in: credit card may get you sick,denver,GERMS,Public Health,sick employees,sick rick