No particular risk of infection of SARS-CoV-2 from cash

[2greys]

Fear of contagion is driving much more contactless payments during the pandemic. It wouldn’t be necessary.

How long do coronaviruses remain infectious on banknotes and coins? Is it possible to become infected through contact with cash? Experts at the European Central Bank, in collaboration with the Department of Medical and Molecular Virology at Ruhr-Universität Bochum, wanted to clarify this question. The researchers led by Professor Eike Steinmann and Dr. Daniel Todt developed a method specifically to test how many infectious virus particles can be transferred from cash to the skin in real-life conditions. Conclusion: under realistic conditions, the risk of contracting Sars-Cov-2 from cash is very low. The study has been published in the journal iScience from 26 July 2021.

To find out how long Sars-Cov-2 persists on coins and banknotes, the researchers treated various euro coins and banknotes with virus solutions of different concentrations and over several days observed how long infectious virus was still detectable. A stainless-steel surface served as a control in each case. The results are reassuring: while infectious virus was still present on the stainless-steel surface after seven days, on the 10-euro banknote, it took only three days to completely disappear. For the 10-cent, 1-euro, and 5-cent coins after six days, two days and one hour, respectively, no infectious virus was detectable. “The rapid decline on the 5-cent piece is because it’s made of copper, on which viruses are known to be less stable,” explains Daniel Todt.

news.rub.de/english/press-r...

iScience. Journal Pre-proof Study Paper:

cell.com/iscience/pdf/S2589...

[Hidden]

I think our £1 coins are substantially made of copper so that’s something, although I nearly always use I-pay now

[Badbessie]

My grandson is not worried. As he put it " you can use you magic card to pay grandad".

[Izb1]

Its feels that I am being controlled not using cash and would prefer to have the choice. I dont like the idea that somebody is keeping tabs on what I am spending. Sounds daft because its safer and less messy using cards, just dont like the big brother feeling. Now we know that cash is safe perhaps we will go back to it, although I dont think so x

[Ergendl]

I still collect cash for subs at the groups I run. I line the bowl for donations with a small plastic bag (the same one each week), and loosely knot it, then keep it for a few days before counting it. Even before Covid, I always washed my hands after counting cash.