Here’s how you can protect yourself.
By Paul Kita
Amidst the spread of COVID-19, health officials have reinforced the importance of washing your hands the correct way.
But the coronavirus can also live on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass, or plastic, for up to nine days, as reported by a 2020 study review review by German researchers.
And what’s an inanimate surface made of metal, glass, and plastic that you pick up frequently during the day and sometimes hold close to your face?
Yeah, your phone.
The researchers of that German study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, assessed data from 22 studies on human coronaviruses such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) coronavirus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus, and endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV).
What they found: “although the viral load of coronaviruses on inanimate surfaces is not known during an outbreak situation it seems plausible to reduce the viral load on surfaces by disinfection, especially of frequently touched surfaces in the immediate patient.”
The study went on to report that a good strategy for surface disinfection is with a solution that contains 0.1% sodium hypochlorite or 62 to 71% ethanol. Either of these “significantly reduces coronavirus infectivity on surfaces within 1 min exposure time. We expect a similar effect against the SARS-CoV-2.” (SARS-CoV-2 is the virus that causes COVID-19, according to the CDC.)
In other words, just as it’s a smart idea to wash your hands frequently, and it may be important to disinfect metal, glass, and plastic surfaces frequently.
But does that include your phone?
Yes, says Charles Gerba, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and immunology at The University of Arizona.
“You do not have to sneeze on a cell phone to transmit disease-causing organisms,” Gerba says. “What we found out in studying virus movement on surfaces in office buildings is that you touch a surface with a virus on it and then you place it on your cell phone.” (A door handle, for example.)
“You then go home or to another location and you touch your phone again and, says, touch a table moving it to another location—great way to spread viruses around an office.”
Günter Kampf, M.D., an associated professor of hygiene and environmental medicine at the University of Greifswald, is the lead researcher of the German paper.
In response to using cleaning products that contain the amounts of agents listed in the study, Geifswald said: “Check with the manufacturer. First, it should be effective against coronavirus (or commonly used other enveloped viruses used for disinfectant testing). Second, not all disinfectants are compatible with the material of the smartphone surface.”
Gerba recommends an “alcohol wipe or a microfiber cloth.”
“I would do it every time I have been out in public,” he says.
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu
Publisher — Black Source Media
Jeff Thomas
Publisher • Opinion Columnist • Licensed General Contractor • Real Estate Appraiser • New Orleans
Jeff Thomas is the publisher of Black Source Media and one of New Orleans’ most direct voices on civic affairs, economic justice, and Louisiana politics. He writes from the intersection of experience and accountability — as a licensed general contractor,a tech company founder and executive with over 30 years experience, and a businessman who has worked across the city’s civic, media, and construction ecosystems for decades.
His Sunday column covers Louisiana legislative politics, insurance discrimination, housing policy, and the forces shaping Black community life in New Orleans and across the state. Thomas writes in the tradition of Black journalists who hold power accountable without apology — building arguments from data, delivering verdicts from evidence, and speaking to Black New Orleans with the directness the moment demands.
He is also the principal of EA Inspection Services, LLC, a government inspection services company. Black Source Media is his platform for the civic conversation New Orleans has needed and too rarely had.
Selected Articles by Jeff Thomas
Black Neighborhoods Pay the Highest Insurance Rates in Louisiana. Here’s What They Don’t Want You to Know.
They Didn’t Yell the N-Word. They Went to Law School, Bided Their Time, and Rewrote the Constitution Instead.
Vappie vs. Morrell: Why Does Justice Look Different in New Orleans?
The State Has the Money. New Orleans East Just Needs Them to Use It.
The Failure of Mitch Landrieu