During cold & flu season, many doctors are faced with questions about viruses and other germs. A common question is this: Can I catch a cold if someone sneezes on a door handle and I touch it? Well, we all know that is true, but how long do viruses last on a surface? How long can they survive outside our body? This Mayo Clinic Article had some thoughts on viruses a few years ago in an article they published on their website. This article referenced several different medical journals. Simply put, the lifespan of a germ outside our body varies, and ranges from a few minutes to 48 hours or longer. You need to be responsible for your own health, and that means washing your hands frequently. With that said, we know that cleaning people do not follow us around and clean every door handle we touch. It may take a few days to a week before they come back into our offices. So, that door knob to the office or conference room, that computer keyboard, or other common surface is probably still contaminated. We have done our own practical testing during cold and flu season, and when we have applied SaniSolve to the surfaces we touch every day, we found the surfaces to be clean several months later. So the next time you reach for that door handle, ask the office manager or front desk attendant “Has this facility been SaniSolved?”
