Posted: 7th May 2020 | Back to news feed
Each day new information is released, and more questions asked, How can I further protect myself against spreading Covid-19? These questions are asked with good reason. With the hands and face being the first call of concern, is it time to start worrying about our feet?
It is important during this time of a pandemic to listen to what scientists have to say. But with the scientific community often dancing around definitive answers, do you need to start taking more precautions? The simple answer is: It can’t hurt.
Our shoes are something that we do not often, if ever, deep clean and disinfect and this has raised an alarm for many across social media. In a recent HuffPost article, titled Can Coronavirus Live On Shoes And Be Brought Into Our Homes?* The answer was a resounding ‘Maybe’. The article’s opinions sway back and forth.
According to the article and public health specialist Carol Winner, “Pragmatically, they are on the body part furthest from our face, and we do know that the greatest risk of transmission is person to person, not shoe to person.”
However, this raises a further issue: When you take off your shoes, you use your hands. It has then spread to a part of the body far closer to your face.
A recent study published by CDM on the 10th of April as an early release analysing Aerosol and Surface Distribution of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Hospital Wards, Wuhan, China, 2020, states, “as medical staff walk around the ward, the virus can be tracked all over the floor, as indicated by the 100% rate of positivity from the floor in the pharmacy, where there were no patients. Furthermore, half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive. Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers.” You can read about the study in greater detail here.
Now that we have been given studies referring to the dangers of our unwashed shoes, how should you react? There are some options. You could spend upwards of twenty minutes cleaning your shoes for diseases each time you leave the house. Or you could place a mat in the entrance of your door designed to help clean your soles of diseases of the outside world.
At Coruba, we offer a moulded footbath designed for this specific purpose. Simply pour an effective disinfectant liquid into the well of the mat, step on it and use the dimples to scrape off any mud and dirt, and the liquid will kill most of the germs and bacteria that clings to your soles.
This matting is especially useful when considering biosecurity measures at entrances and exits to yards where visits from multiple owners may be necessary. The mat is also designed to be rugged enough for use with horses and other animals should the need arise.
Please note: This mat is intended to be used as the first step to killing diseases and should not be used to replace other cleaning procedures in their entirety.
References:
https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/new-coronavirus-stable-hours-surfaces
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