Hotbed of infection: how to disinfect a smartphone so as not to pick up a coronavirus

Against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, the standard instructions for cleaning the surface of gadgets are changing, writes Lifehacker.

Photo: Shutterstock

For the prevention of coronavirus, it is important to always keep your hands clean and not touch your face, especially in crowded places. However, what about smartphones? After all, applying the gadget to the ear, we also endanger ourselves. A thorough disinfection will help reduce the risk of infection from your own mobile phone.

A smartphone, like any metal, glass or plastic surface, can indeed be a carrier of coronavirus. If you believe the report, then the risk of infection from contact with objects remains up to 9 days.

To disinfect gadgets, Google and Apple are usually advised to use slightly soapy water, applied to lint-free cloth. However, against the backdrop of the coronavirus pandemic, some changes were made to the standard instructions. In particular, there was a recommendation to use wipes with a 70% alcohol solution.

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Alcohol and household cleaning products for cleaning gadgets were previously banned because they could damage the oleophobic coating of the display. WSJ journalist Joanna Stern decided to check if this is true - she wiped the iPhone 8 display with Clorox disinfectant wipes more than 1000 times and did not notice any changes.

She did not stop on the napkins: Stern applied a toilet cleaner with hydrochloric acid to the display, but even after five minutes of such cleaning, everything was in order with the device. The bleach also had no effect, after which the smartphone went into a nail polish remover containing acetone. Only then did the oleophobic layer really suffer, although the smartphone continued to work.

Such tests led to the conclusion that in fact, the anti-grease coating is not so easy to damage, so you can still use alcohol-containing liquids. The same opinion is shared by the microbiologist Charles Gerba, who recommends wiping the device with a towel moistened with a solution of alcohol and water in a ratio of 40% to 60%.

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If you are still afraid to damage the screen, then there is a much safer way. It consists in the use of protective glasses or films that can be glued on top of the display of your smartphone. Many of them do not have an oleophobic layer, and if it is, then its destruction over time is unlikely to be a big loss. You can always replace the glass without harming the screen of the gadget. In addition, this protection will protect against scratches and chips when dropped.

As ForumDaily wrote earlier:

• A new virus was discovered in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019. In 2020, it covered all continents except Antarctica.
• On March 11, WHO recognized the situation with the coronavirus pandemic, which covered more than 110 countries. Symptoms of Coronavirus COVID-19 Disease Available here.
• Virologist's tips on how to protect yourself from infection - here to register:.
• From the onset of infection to the onset of symptoms, approximately 5 to 12 days pass. Here A step-by-step look at what happens inside the body when the virus is fixed in it.
• What documents and information about yourself to prepare for hospitalization regarding coronavirus - in our material.
• Nobel laureate Michael Levitt, an American-British-Israeli biophysicist who teaches structural biology at Stanford University, explainedwhy not panic during a coronavirus pandemic.
• Read all news about coronavirus in ForumDaily special project.

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