Are debit cards a set up for a flu outbrake

[Two Rivers]

I always carry something to clean my hands after having to touch those plastic pen looking things at the check out.
I think with all the people that touch them and when flu season is is full swing thats a problem.
Also I look at peoples phones with touch screens that look like they are a epidemic waiting to happen.
Am I just getting paranoid in my old age.

[dhoward]

You always had to touch something. remember signing multiple-carboned CC slips? Unless you always carry your own pen.

[Heel n Toe]

Oops... you just touched the bag your items were packed in. Everybody handed the clerk their ID and the clerk put your items in the bag.

The clerk touched all that nasty cash in the drawer.

And the clerk touched your items when she scanned them, too.

We're screwed... half of us are gonna die in a flu pandemic one day... we just need to get used to the idea.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Two Rivers

Am I just getting paranoid in my old age.

Yes, better start wear those Kleenex boxes on your feet now!

The whole germaphobe thing pisses me off... hand wipes at the gas station and supermarket... please.

IMHO That is what is setting up our demise... weakening our immune system by trying to sanitize life... you don't see dogs, cats, monkeys using hand sanitizer and they see to get by just fine.

And humankind lived in filth for thousands of years...

Rant over... sorry

[motion]

Yeah, but we are a much more global society now. You don't see dogs, cats and monkeys hopping trans-continental flights with regularity.

[VINMAN]

Dog, cats, and monkeys are cleaner than most people out there...

[motion]

I can't even imagine some of the nasty stuff in India, Bangladesh, China, etc. that goes unreported and is killing people. I sure don't want that stuff on my debit card pen.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by motion

I can't even imagine some of the nasty stuff in India, Bangladesh, China, etc. that goes unreported and is killing people. I sure don't want that stuff on my debit card pen.

Seriously doubt those people can afford air travel, much less international air travel, or a debit card.

[motion]

And you don't think those bugs can somehow get on a direct flight from India to New York?

[URY914]

There are more germs on the bathroom sink and door hardware than on my junk.

[Two Rivers]

Never worried about this kind of stuff before. Now that I am getting older and the strain of flues these days makes me think.
I guess when its your time its time.
Had a older neighbor kick the bucket and was told the flu got him, last winter.

[slakjaw]

I'm not worried about this.

[dhoward]

Originally Posted by URY914

There are more germs on the bathroom sink and door hardware than on my junk.

Where did the junk thing come from?

[jyl]

Hard to avoid touching things that other people have touched. Debit cards and touchscreens don't make much difference. You don't think other people touched the cash you use, the gas pump, the doorknob, the table you sit at, etc?

If you're really worried, wear gloves, sanitize your hands all the time, never touch your face.

During the H1N1 flu pandemic, people increased handwashing, hand sanitizing, and took other precautions. That did help.

There is a guy in my office who is as paranoid about germ transmission as anyone I've known. If someone has a cold, they can't come into his office, and often as not he goes home rather than be in the same 5000 sq ft space as the disease vector. He also gets sick more than anyone I know.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by Two Rivers

I always carry something to clean my hands after having to touch those plastic pen looking things at the check out.
I think with all the people that touch them and when flu season is is full swing thats a problem.
Also I look at peoples phones with touch screens that look like they are a epidemic waiting to happen.
Am I just getting paranoid in my old age.

Do you find yourself saying over and over "Get the Blueprints" ?

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by motion

I can't even imagine some of the nasty stuff in India, Bangladesh, China, etc. that goes unreported and is killing people. I sure don't want that stuff on my debit card pen.

I spent almost a year in India. It wasn't if you were sick, only how bad. I do not want to go back anytime soon.

[scottmandue]

People have been dieing from influenza for... well... forever.

I would be curious has percentage increased over the last few hundred years (and the advent of air travel).

Or do you suppose the hysteria comes from a media that thrives on negative press?

Or heaven forbid the hype is from an industry that makes millions of dollars off anti bacteria lotions and hadi wipes?

Pen at the ATM? Really? I would be more concerned about stair railings and door knobs that get touched by a lot more hands.

[onewhippedpuppy]

[vash]

i spray everything down daily with lysol. just kidding.

i wash my hands often and before i eat. it's all i can do.

on the other hand, any hotel i get..my brother hoses the damn place down with lysol. i stay outside while get goes "boy in the bubble" on the place. it would be ironic is lysol fumes caused death.

currency is the filthiest. the insides of our wallets are gross. the debit card is "electronic" cash, so it is much cleaner.

[scottmandue]

Might as well buy a ranch in Montana and sequester yourself from all people... oh wait

And +1 on money... we tend to fixate on one thing being "the carrier" when so many ubiquitous things are handled every day we don't even think about it.

Face it...

We are all Doomed!!!Doomed I tell you!!!