5 Financial Transactions That Could Spread COVID-19 and How to be Careful

1. Using ATMs

ATMS are one of the germiest places you can touch. Think about how many people touch the keypad, touch screen and card reader of just one ATM every day. In 2018, personal finance site LendEDU conducted an informal study testing the keypad, touch screen and card reader on 20 ATMS in New York City with a handheld hygiene testing device. ¹

“In all but seven of the ATMs tested, the card reader was the dirtiest component, followed by the keypad, while the touchscreen was the ‘cleanest’ of all three,” according to LendEDU. Try to stay safe by using your knuckle on the touchscreen and then wash your hands or apply hand sanitizer as soon as possible. ²

2. Handling money

Thousands of microbes can exist on money, and research shows that even though most microorganisms don’t survive on money, ^3] some can, including E. coli ⁴ and Klebsiella, ⁵ a bacteria that can cause pneumonia.

To help slow the spread of COVID-19, wash your hands or use hand sanitizer (if you can find it).

3. Using touchscreens

Touchscreens get tapped, scrolled and swiped all day long by hundreds or thousands of people. To find out just how germy these ubiquitous screens are, a news reporter from CBS3 in Philadelphia swabbed the touch screens inside three different chain stores in 2018. ⁶

Lab results showed that one of the screens came back clean, the second touchscreen harbored allergy-causing fungus, and the third screen contained an “extremely large amount of Acinetobacter species, a bacteria that can prove dangerous to hospitalized patients,” according to the CBS3 report.

Wipe touchscreens with sanitizing wipes if possible or wash your hands or apply hand sanitizer after use.

4. Typing on electronic keypads

As with touch screens, keypads are used by the masses, and it’s nearly impossible to get through the day without typing in a PIN, swiping, inserting or signing your name with the attached (probably never sanitized) pen.

Wash your hands often with soap and water to help protect yourself from COVID-19, especially after using a keypad or other shared technology. ⁷

5. Using the bank drive-thru

If you’re using the bank drive-thru as part of your socially isolating plan to stay safe and help keep other people safe, don’t forget about the germs you could withdraw from your local bank. ⁸

Lots of people touch that container shooting forth between you and the teller, including hundreds of other customers. Wash your hands ⁹ often and avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth to help prevent getting infected with the virus that causes COVID-19 ¹⁰ or unwittingly passing it along to a high-risk person who may not recover. ¹¹

This article by Deb Hipp was originally published on Debt.com.