Author, Lynnice Ng
With the pandemic raging around the global and positive cases still coming up in MOH’s daily reports, a tingling fear remains in the minds of most Singaporeans when pressing the lift buttons. Though invisible to the human eye, we all know a lot of viruses (a lot may be an understatement) are on the lift buttons given so many people touch the buttons every day. What are the various ways that Singaporeans are touching the lift buttons? We categorise them into three groups.
- Knuckles
These are the groups who are concerned about pressing the lift buttons, yet could not think of any better way to press other than using their knuckles. The problem with this is, there still lies the possibility of you touching your eyes or nose with the back of your hand and your knuckles.
- House/office key or tissue paper
If there is one common object that we observed people using to press the lift button with, that would be the key. Everyone has a key in his or her pocket or bag, whether for our house or office. On our way to our homes and offices, we would be fishing out for our key beforehand and thus it became a ‘natural’ tool to press the button with. However, have you given a thought of how many germs were ‘transferred’ to your key surface after the touch and you then ‘kept’ all the germs back into your pocket or bag?
- Contact-less button presser
One other way to do the task is to get a ‘tool’ to do it for you and this should preferably have self-sanitising feature. One such tool we discovered is RefiAg+, from Singapore seller, LifePick. It is as small as your lipstick, easy to use and carry around. The silver ions on the tool (which does the touching) are natural antimicrobial agents, which means you do not need to sanitise it after use and since it is retractable, there is also less concern about it contaminating your pocket or bag. For children, it is especially simple to use and handle too. As parents, you no longer have to worry about the kids putting their fingers into their mouths after touching the lift buttons.
Whichever way that you are using, we hope that you do not end up pushing the buttons of other passengers in the lifts while taking your time to decide how you should press the lift button. No matter what, nothing beats washing your hands frequently and always remember to avoid using your hands to touch your eyes, nose and ears. Stay vigilant and stay safe!
Lynnice Ng writes for The Digital Co.
