Covid-19 Credit Card Cross-Contamination

Clean your cards regularly with alcohol or Clorox wipe to prevent transmitting  germs.

Remember high school heath class when they said if you kiss someone it is like kissing the last 10 people they kissed?  Fast-forward to today when just touching something could transmit something harmful to you or your family.

While the dining room of every restaurant around me is currently closed, many of us are trying to support our local business by utilizing the drive through.  A recent visit to a local fast food restaurant confirmed something I assumed for a long time.  Credit Card Contamination.  

Cashier gloved up taking a card that has been
“who knows where”.

The person taking payments in the drive-through was wearing gloves.  Great for them!  They are protecting themselves.  However, they were not changing gloves between each transaction.  For the customer, this is like wearing no gloves at all.  While you’d love for the restaurant to have the cashier change gloves between every transaction.  This is not logistically possible.  Especially with a shortage of personal protective products and front-line health care workers needing priority to essential supplies. 





So, how do you protect yourself?  Something you can do (and should do anyway)...clean your cards!  Every time I get home from shopping, I use an alcohol wipe to clean my cards and wipe off my wallet (also keys, cell phone, AirPods—and, of course, the pocket-sized bottle of sanitizer that goes where I go).  I’d would love to use my digital wallet and use a contactless payment method every time I pay for something, it not always an option.  So cleaning my cards is the best defense against contaminated credit cards.  Of course, wash your hands throughly with soap and water when the cleaning process is done.

Timing is Everything

Anyone who knows me personally knows that I’m a “germophobe”.  I admit it.  It’s not that I have a fear of germs, I find disgust with anyone “not exhibiting clean habits”.

I was raised in a home where shoes were never worn inside.  I guess you could say my mother started me down this path, but I could have veered at any time during my life—but I didn’t.  What is hard for most people to understand is simply this:  I look at the world much differently than most people.  Behaviors I see boggle my mind—but people are who they are and I just have to deal with it.

Compound my germophobic tendencies with two things that come later in life: 1) a child who is somewhat medically fragile and 2) running my own business that is based solely on billable hours (no work = no pay).  My upbringing, combined with my life’s path is the perfect storm to create the person I am today.

Now, fast forward to present day.  We are right in the throws of  COVID-19. The stock market has taken a tumble.  Hundreds of people have lost (or will loose) their jobs.  Panic is wide-spread and there is no end in sight.  All my friends are saying things like:

• “How are you handling this?”
• “I bet you are freaking out!!”
• “Are you still traveling?”
• “Aren’t you nervous?”

My answer is simple:  “I’m doing nothing different now, that I did a few weeks ago”.  I wash my hands frequently.  I sanitize before I eat (if a sink is not readily available).  I never touch my eyes, nose or put my fingers in my mouth—and guess what: I rarely, rarely get a cold or the flu.  So, I’m literally doing nothing different now with the threat of Corona than I typically do!

All that said, timing is everything.  I’ve been kicking around the idea of starting a travel blog to share my habits.  Are my habits for everyone?  Absolutely not.  But I’m sure there are individuals out there that struggle.  This blog will have articles that let you know—you are not the only person out there who thinks like you!!!

Keep traveling and stay clean!