An online reference to another more reputable reference estimates that the coronavirus will remain on currency (coins, banknotes) for up to 10 days.
What do you all have to say about that?
Cash money is one of the dirtiest, most disgusting things most of us will handle on a regular basis, given all the other germs and contaminants on it adding the corona virus probably isn’t that big a deal
Well, the Illinois Tollway Authority has stopped accepting cash at all toll plazas, even the coin-operated ones with no human attendants, in order to prevent the spread of the corona virus. So I guess they heard you.
Yeah, another online reference said that China was or is washing banknotes. I have no idea as to the credibility of the claim or the source. I thought about “dirty money” this morning, looked online very briefly before posting and saw those two references. Has it not come up here on the SDMB yet? There are several virus-related threads that I haven’t looked all the way through.
I’m not asking if I should panic. I’m asking if it’s true or likely that the virus would remain on currency for up to 10 days.
Not on my cash, which I use so rarely that the cash in my wallet hasn’t seen the light of day since the coronovirus was invented! Almost everywhere around here accepts the “tap”, or contactless smartcard using NFC, which only needs to be brought within a few centimeters of the POS terminal and you’re done. Nothing needs to be touched or signed. But it’s limited to amounts usually under $100. Over that amount, you have to insert the chip card and use the dreaded keypad, which is like a breeding ground for bacteria and viruses. Seriously. Wash your hands when you get home! But currency is probably a good thing to avoid touching right now if avoidable. I note that many liquor store cashiers around here have been wearing rubber gloves for a long time now.
Looking it up on Snopes, the answer seems to be that nobody knows for sure, but it’s not an irrational worry.
Right, I think the right answer is the no one really knows for sure, and it depends on the type of surface, the temperature, and humidity. I’d initially heard the survival time outside a host was just a few hours, but it appears to be anywhere from three hours to three days, and possibly longer under ideal conditions:
Thanks for your factual responses.
Heh, a friend of mine is such a skinflint that I often say the last time I saw him open his wallet a bat flew out of it!
Back to GQ: I figure that, once it recedes, in the worst of cases, we’d just have to be careful for those 10 days (or whatever) and it will cease to be a concern.
You have to read real closely.
It has been well documented that the virus “will remain on” hard surfaces (e.g. Der Trihs’s post).
Less well documented but still true is that the virus “will remain on” soft surfaces.
It has not been documented that Coronavirus disease cases have been transmitted over surfaces.
E.g. CDC says:
In another case, the WHO has denied that they SAID that “cash was transmitting coronavirus”.
They didn’t SAY it because no case of coronavirus transmission through cash has been documented so far (this may change of course).
They also didn’t say that coronavirus CAN’T be transmitted through cash. Of course not, because it HAS been proven that virus will stay on cash for an indeterminate period of time. So they stress that you should still wash your hands etc.etc.
Science! Subtle, nuanced stuff.
Here is a Google cache link to a NY Times article from 2009 about experiments with influenza virus transmission through cash.
Not clear (to me) what they are saying. If they say that transmission of virus was observed then it does come with lots of qualifications.
Concerned Dopers, send me all your cash money, and I will quarantine it for you.
You can’t be too careful.
So it looks like the Gypsy fortune tellers were right. Your money is cursed!
Pretty sure the 10 days is bogus. COVID-19 supposedly only lives on surfaces up to 3 days.
Or per CDC’s summary
"The virus is thought to spread mainly from person-to-person.
Between people who are in close contact with one another (within about 6 feet).
Through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs or sneezes.
These droplets can land in the mouths or noses of people who are nearby or possibly be inhaled into the lungs."
“It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prepare/transmission.html
And one normally touches lots of hard and soft, organic and inorganic things other people touch besides coins and bills; nowadays especially money isn’t a large % of those touches for most people. And all those things would seem about evenly covered by the general admonition to wash your hands often and not touch your face with unwashed hands. But keeping in mind the hand wash/don’t touch face thing might not be reducing your risk that much if breathing in the virus or droplets containing it is the main form of transmission. It’s just a simple thing, and at least in case of hand washing an easy one (speaking for myself, I’ve found it pretty easy to remember to wash my hands more often and thoroughly, I have more difficulty 100% refraining from touching my chronically itchy nose).
I wouldn’t worry. All the cocaine that’s on paper money will kill any virus.
I would think those card terminals where many are constantly pushing the same buttons (minutes apart at Costco and grocery stores right now) would be subject to infection transmission more than currency.
(Especially since currency sits in my wallet, in my back pocket, and is regularly fumigated with hydrogen sulfide and methane.)