As the lockdown has eased, there are more chances of catching the virus than ever. If you live in an apartment building or you are not working from home or even going out to buy groceries, you have chances to catch the virus.
Your first instinct would be to wear gloves while going out but health.com explains that wearing gloves will do more harm than good, in this article.
Enter ➡ touch tools. There are many names of this tool going around like No touch key, Touch Safe Key, OutKey, Hands-free door opener etc. All of this looks almost the same, made of metal, plastic or wood.
Your best option would be to use one made of brass metal as it is inherently antimicrobial (Src). Antimicrobial refers to the process of killing or inhibiting the disease-causing microbes. This is the main reason you will see brass being used in doorknobs and other common touch surfaces in hospitals. This study by the New England Journal of Medicine shows the SARS-CoV2 is dead in 4 hours on brass but takes 2–3 days on plastic and up to 4 days on wood.
Main Use Cases
Elevators: If you live in an apartment, the main place from where you can catch the virus are elevators.
ATMs & POS: ATMs are used by almost everybody. They are the biggest source of catching the virus. Even the POS which is handed to you for entering the pin on petrol pumps, grocery stores, restaurants is a big source of catching the virus.
Light Switches, door handles: If your office does not allow work from home, then these are the main sources to catch the virus. These are the most common touch surfaces in your office.
Taxi doors: Taxi is used by many people throughout the day. Everybody has to use the door handles. Again a source of catching the virus.
Which one to buy?
There are so many of them on amazon, but choosing the right one is essential. First and foremost choose one that is made of brass. Then see if the company by which it is being sold is genuine. This is important because the quality of a tool which is the key to your health should not be compromised and an off-brand company might be cutting costs.
Options
- OutKey: https://diamia.com/
- Touch Safe Key: https://www.senormetals.in/touch-safe-key.php
- C-Safekey: https://amzn.to/3gwMbpp
