Filthy lucre: Paper money shunned for fear of virus spread

AP News ^ | 20 Mar 20 | Ken Sweet

[SkyPilot]

In a world suffering a pandemic, cash is no longer king.

A growing number of businesses and individuals worldwide have stopped using banknotes in fear that physical currency, handled by tens of thousands of people over their useful life, could be a vector for the spreading coronavirus.

Public officials and health experts have said that the risk of transferring the virus person-to-person through the use of banknotes is small. But that has not stopped businesses from refusing to accept currency and some countries from urging their citizens to stop using banknotes altogether.

Open Books, a non-profit bookstore in Chicago, sent an email to customers last week asking individuals not to use cash. A chain of diners in Washington State has also stopped accepting cash. And delivery services like Grubhub, Door Dash, and others have instituted “no contact” deliveries, and have either stopped offering cash as a payment option or are actively discouraging it.

Experts say cash does carry a risk of transmitting the virus, but the risk from cash so far is small compared with other transmission routes. A scientific paper published early in the outbreak found the virus can live on cardboard for up to 24 hours and up to three days on plastic and stainless steel. The researchers, however, did not test whether it can live on banknote paper.

The presence of live virus particles on banknotes does not mean they are a health hazard, public health experts said. Virus particles are unlikely to return to the air, or aerosolize, once on a surface.

“It’s not impossible that there might be traces of virus on dollar bills but if you wash your hands it should provide adequate protections, you shouldn’t need anything else,” said Julie Fischer, a professor at the Center for Global Health Science and Society...

[SkyPilot]

Please see the whole article.

Other devices used to pay for items are just as likely to be vectors for disease transfer. Credit and debit cards are made of plastic and metal. ATMs are touched by hundreds of human hands a day. And there have been studies that show smartphones are heavily contaminated with bacteria because of their constant use.

Something tells me the "solution" coming will be a tattoo-like mark or device on the skin or implanted in the human body. It will be our ATM card, our ID, our CAC card, our VPN, our password, our passport, our drivers license, our medical records, and everything else.

Oh, and our global tracking device. In the wake of COVID-19, the powers that be are calling for increased tracking and monitoring of all citizens.

[SkyPilot]

Ping

[mewzilla]

Really, how about reusable shopping bags..?

If those are spreading WuFlu in CA and NYS, God help Sacramento and Albany...

[ronnie raygun]

Lysol spray your money

[MrEdd]

Use dollar coins and boil them.

[Oshkalaboomboom]

The markets in my town are asking us to pay with a card. I carry a pencil and use the eraser to tap my pin number. Most of the customers have gloves on and the cashiers wipe the card readers down with disinfectant wipes every few customers. In spite of the precautions the first thing I do when I get home is wash my hands and use sanitizer.

[yldstrk]

I’ll take cash.

[JonPreston]

stopped using banknotes

If this was true, bank tellers and store clerks would be disproportionately infected. There's nothing yet to indicate that.

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

All your cash are belong to us.

[Alberta's Child]

It’s astonishing that any business would make it harder for customers to do business with them at a time like this.

“We only allow customers in our premises who are wearing haz-mat suits.” — said no smart business owner, ever. Well, at least not until last week.

[yldstrk]

I know. One of my business principles is to make it easy to pay.

[I want the USA back]

It is legal tender, and so they have no right to refuse it.

Betting the left uses the current crisis to call for outlawing cash. Then they will slap a tax on all electronic transactions. Yes they will.

[HighSierra5]

Aren’t we just taking this a little too far?

[Susquehanna Patriot]

... and all the people who get paid “under the table”.

Good point Jon, don’t bother anyone with logic. The bottom line is any point of contact is a potential source of transmission. The hysteria may kill and injure more people than the Wuhan flu before all is said and done.

[Susquehanna Patriot]

Then what does your eraser touch?

[ncalburt]

I recall the Photos in the DM of Chinese Banks staff spraying down
thousands of dollars in Jan and Feb .
Yes the virus can be transferred thru the money .

Are US banks taking this precaution ? Do these reporters think this fact is new ?

[oldasrocks]

I tried washing the money I made but the ink washed off.

[Susquehanna Patriot]

“Aren’t we just taking this a little too far?”

Apparently Howard Hughes was way ahead of his time. He probably would have come out of hiding if this thing continues in the hysterical direction it seems to be moving and all the sheeple that lack common sense.

[Red in Blue PA]

Save the precious lysol. Just don’t use cash.

I signed up for Google Pay for the first time so I do not need to touch anything for the transaction.

[SkyPilot]

Aren’t we just taking this a little too far?

No, the world will get there eventually. It will happen.

Perhaps sooner rather than later.

The powers that be never let a crisis go to waste.