The Viral Threat In The Office is Real

Introduction

The Threat of Viruses in the Office place

According to the CDC and confirmed by the WHO, DHS, and NIH and documented in the New England Journal of Medicine, any infected employee can cough or exhale and release droplets of infected fluid on surfaces, which can live and infect others for 3 days or longer. “A person can become infected by touching a surface where these droplets land before touching their eyes, mouth, or nose.”

Clinical evidence shows that high-touch surfaces play a significant role in pathogen transmission. Dr. Charles Gerba of the University of Arizona, generally regarded as the nation’s leading expert on Environmental Biology, demonstrated how quickly germs travel through an office environment when just one person comes to work sick. In his 2012 study, a single infected person using a shared keyboard spread the infection to over 50% of keyboards in an 80-person department within 4 hours

And office desks are some of the dirtiest items you come in contact with every day. According to Dr. Kelly Reynolds PhD, a professor and environmental microbiologist at University of Arizona, “More than 10 million bacteria are on a typical office desk – 400 times more bacteria than found on the average public toilet seat, which means that simply typing an email puts employees at risk for illnesses.”

Dr. Reynolds continues, “Bacteria and viruses survive really well on surfaces. Soap and water aren’t enough to kill them; you need to use a disinfectant.”