Can Coronavirus travel on your shoes?

Even though parts of the world have started to open up from lockdown, COVID-19 is still very much a part our lives and there is work to do to slow its spread.

Until a vaccine is rolled out, the world needs to pay close attention to how the virus spreads and work on mitigating those causes. We know some of the major ways it spreads include close contact, touching our faces if we’ve touched something with the virus on it, and respiratory droplets.

But what about more innocent activities? Can it spread, for example, on our shoes?

Transmission

When it comes to the basics of how the virus is transmitted, it’s usually from person to person via respiratory droplets. These droplets are produced when an infected person (with or without symptoms), coughs or even talks to another person.

To prevent the virus from spreading, we’ve been told to wear face masks to cover our nose and mouth. This can help prevent anything from spreading, and whether you have symptoms or not, a face mask should be worn.

Washing your hands is another important way to prevent the virus from being passed on.

However, we still don’t really know whether other forms of transmission could spread the virus. What about when we order something online? What do we do with the packaging? How do we ensure the product itself isn’t contaminated?

How The Coronavirus Spreads

In order to infect a host, the virus must gain entry to that individual’s cells. They then use the cell’s machinery in order to produce copies. These then spill out and spread new cells.  The Coronavirus is a respiratory illness and when infected droplets are introduced into the cells of our bodies, they quickly travel and spread new infected cells.

It’s important that we’re doing everything to prevent that from happening and shoes can certainly contribute to the spreading of the virus. How? Well, according to a report published by the CDC, it can be carried around on the surface and sole of the shoes, with some of the virus still active 2-3 days later.

How serious is this transmission vector? Still unknown. But, better to be safe than sorry.

With that in mind, it’s important to keep your shoes clean, especially after you’ve been outside or to any place other than your own home. In order to keep your shoes clean, it’s good to wipe them down, ideally with a disinfectant, when you get home.

The ShoeSling® Can Help

The ShoeSling® is infused with antimicrobial technology which was originally meant to keep the smell of your shoes from spreading, but now serves a dual purpose—it can kill bacteria and possibly help slow the spread of a virus.

Although it can’t guarantee the virus won’t spread on your shoes, the ShoeSling® can certainly help to combat any microbes that could grow there. At the very least, placing your shows in a ShoeSling® when you get home can help keep any microbes confined to the bag until you have time to sterilize them (or they die off!), rather than spreading it throughout your home.

2020 has certainly tested us so far, but we can all play our part in helping rid this virus as quickly as possible. We may not be able to help find a cure, but we can take small steps in our everyday lives to keep it contained until a vaccine is created.

The ShoeSling® can be one of those small steps. Grab one today to help keep your home free from the virus.