Viruses can zoom through workplaces in hours

Virus in workplace

The University of Arizona in Tuscan did a study on how rapidly a virus from a door handle could spread throughout the work place within a few hours. Microbiologist Charles Gerba and his team put the virus in three different areas with consent from the workers. These places were a healthcare facility, an office and a conference room. After about two to three hours the virus began to show up in about 40-60% of the work place such as the break room, phones and computers. The virus that they used was able to infect bacteria but not humans and they made sure it wasn’t a virus that had been previously evident in the workplace.

Although the virus that they used was not able to infect people, it was still able to stick to their hands and such surfaces. Because this experiment was done to see the spread of viruses in workplaces, Gerba and him team decided to test it by offering disinfectant wipes to the employees. Surprisingly only about half of the employees offered the disinfectant wipes used them. However, the ones who did use the wipes helped reduce the presence of the virus by about 80%. Gerba say’s this is very important to be aware of staying disinfected to help you during the cold and flu seasons.

From: Science News 

2 thoughts on “Viruses can zoom through workplaces in hours

  1. Kaitlin A Kemmerer

    While I was at Penn State over the summer, I noticed less hand sanitizer dispensers. However, as the “Freshman Plague” has been spreading around campus with coughs and sneezing I’ve been noticing more sanitizer dispensers appearing. The campus is definitely attempting to take preventative measures to keep people from getting sick.

  2. Anne Curry Heffernan

    This is a really relevant topic! Viruses spread so quickly, not just in offices but around college campuses too! (If you all have noticed, a lot of people have started sneezing here). What is really interesting however, is that viruses can be prevented so easily just by washing your hands with soap and water frequently throughout they day. There are also several other things that can be done (like getting the flu vaccine and covering your mouth when you cough), but if everyone washed their hands a little more than we already do, we wouldn’t have so many people sneezing.

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