FALSE: THE LIKELIHOOD OF SHOES SPREADING COVID-19 IS VERY LOW

FALSE: THE LIKELIHOOD OF SHOES SPREADING COVID-19 IS VERY LOW

The likelihood of COVID-19 being spread on shoes and infecting individuals is very low. As a precautionary measure, particularly in homes where infants and small children crawl or play on floors, consider leaving your shoes at the entrance of your home. This will help prevent contact with dirt or any waste that could be carried on the soles of shoes.

With the increasing numbers of COVID-19 cases in different countries, people are looking out to all sorts of safety measures to protect themselves. This pandemic has taught us many good things too out of which is maintaining personal hygiene. Washing our hands throughout the day or wearing a mask while going out has become the daily routine of our lives. We are doing every possible thing to outdo the virus on our part.

We have come across several studies and assumptions to find out how long does the virus survive on various surfaces. According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, USA, says, COVID-19 can succeed on cardboards for 24 hours, while for about three days on plastic and steel. Where there are also studies that claim that it can also survive on your shoes for a maximum of five days. Well, shoes that are made up of leather, rubber, and plastic are the ones that become the biggest carriers of the virus and the existence of the virus on these materials also depends on the room temperature several studies say.

The major reason behind spreading corona virus through our shoes can be because they are mostly worn in heavily populated areas like markets, hospitals, workplaces, and so on. Hence shoes come in contact with all sorts of dirt and germs and can be a breeding ground for viruses and bacteria. These bacteria and viruses make the shoe sole their breeding place which ultimately travels to our home.

Therefore the possibility of spreading the virus becomes great as they can touch the infected person or it is even possible if an infected person sneezes near you and the droplets might fall on the shoes which you gradually take home along with you. Not only this, but it might infect the person as well.

It is also said, in a study that researchers took samples from the soles of shoes worn by members of the medical staff in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Wuhan, China. It was found that half samples tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus strain that causes COVID-19.

So, it can be understood that the shoe sole of the medical staff is the carrier of this virus.

But now there are several shoe disinfectant machines and mats are available that are mostly used for office and home purpose. It helps in cleaning the shoe dirt with sanitizers and water before entering the house or premises.

Shoes tend to be dirtier than our clothes because of their nature but we fail to understand its importance. And therefore it should be treated as its nature to protect our family; hence some precautions are advisable to take for this like:

• Removing your shoes while entering your house.
• Like washing of groceries, shoes also need to be washed off with water and shop
• Spreading awareness about this is important
• Machine- in washable shoes can be washed in the washing machine.
• While the leather shoes or the shoes which cannot be washed in the washing machine should be cleanly wiped off with water and soap.
• Make sure kids or infants at your house do not touch it by mistake.
• Keep a pair of slippers at the doorstep before entering the house.
• There are shoe disinfectant machines too available for using that at home as well at offices.

This message is brought to you by Sky Fm in collaboration with Code for Africas’iLab Data Journalism Program supported by DW Akademie