Avoiding bacteria and diseases from public touch screens

Avoiding a touchscreen seems inevitable if you are planning to travel, especially abroad this year. Touchscreens have become a part of our lives and little did we know back in the days that these would become our very life. The recent technological advancements have made life convenient and easier for us but have also made us vulnerable in some way or another.

Touchscreens all the way

Our daily lives have started to revolve around these screens, from going to movies to ordering food to checking in at the airport to boarding, everything is now done via touchscreens. Even in-flight operations are now controlled like this. However, those touchscreens that get a lot of audience are also prone to getting numerous bacteria and other germs.

Where one might be thinking how easy it has become to carry out daily tasks, one might also consider the level of germs present on one of such screens. You don’t know who’s hands you are touching when you interact with a public touchscreen and this can also account as one of the reasons for you getting ill after or during travel.

Culmination of bacteria

Bacteria that are known to cause infections have been found on such touchscreens. One study suggests that approximately more than 200,000 sorts of colony forming bacteria were found on airport check screens. Most of these bacteria originate in human gut, mouth, throat, and feces. Multiple researches also pointed towards presence of bacteria on touchscreens placed in grocery stores and hospitals.

So, in short germs are all around us and use of public touchscreens might be propagating their spread. How does anyone then safeguard themselves from these germs lurking around? Maintaining good hand hygiene is indeed the best defense against this virus.

Maintaining hand hygiene

Now how does one make sure that he/she has clean hands free of germs because no one can see germs from naked eyes. The idea is to identify the contact points and eliminate them. For example, if you know that you have touched a pole while travelling in subway then you should assume that now you have germs on your hands and should immediately sanitize your hands by using recommended hand sanitizer.

The general recommendation is however, to wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds but when you are out and about such as in travel, you don’t have access to water even if you had soap. There only alcohol based hand sanitizers seem like the suitable option and well, it has been known that such sanitizers are effective at killing a large quantity of germs thereby, helping you keep clean hands.

Another way would be to clean those screens with appropriate cleaning products. One can always ask the manufacturer for cleaning instructions and then follow it through. Following this regime not only helps you protect yourselves but also those around you, especially because of the recent outbreak of coronavirus aka COVID-19.

So these are some of the tips to avoid bacteria while dealing with touchscreens in public. If you still have any questions, then you can let us know. We’ll be more than happy to help you out.