Amid the constant advisories that people need to wash their hands frequently and stay six feet apart to prevent coronavirus spread, a retired epidemiologist is warning that health officials and the public should be paying more attention to another possible risk: from payment touch-screens and other high-contact surfaces at grocery stores, pharmacies, ATMs and gas stations.

“So many people are touching them day in and day out. Someone who’s infected could touch the screen and it’s a great place for viruses to be deposited,” said Dr. George Lemp, who was chief of HIV/AIDS surveillance for San Francisco’s public health department from 1986 to 1995. “Then a healthy person comes after them and can pick up the germs.”

Grocery self-checkout machines, electronic pen-and-pad systems that customers use at pharmacies, and gas pump handles also threaten to spread the virus, said Lemp, who after leaving his San Francisco post spent 23 years as director of HIV research for the University of California president’s office.

Lemp worries that the use of touch-screens and other devices could undermine the unprecedented shelter-at-home measures that public health officials and the governor have launched to help stem the spread of COVID-19.

UC Berkeley epidemiologist Art Reingold said most experts would agree it’s unclear if devices such as touch-screens pose a significant risk of spreading coronavirus.

“If people are being assiduous in their hand-washing and keeping their hands away from their face that should be quite helpful in preventing transmission from those kinds of surfaces,” Reingold said. “Even if the person who used it before you is not good about hand-washing, you could be good about hand-washing.”

Lemp noted that most people who use a touch screen or pump gas aren’t likely to wash their hands until they get home — and that could pose a problem. “They leave the store, they have touched the screen, they’ve got virus on their fingers, they go into their car, they get virus on their keys, they touch their cell phone,” he said. Even if the person doesn’t touch their face, if they’ve contaminated their keys, phone or other items, the virus is believed to be able to survive on many surfaces for hours and the person could pick it up again after washing their hands, Lemp said.

Reingold acknowledged that worries about people using touch-screens and then contaminating other items before washing their hands represent “a fair concern.” He said using hand sanitizer or disinfectant wipes after touching screens or other surfaces used by many people could help cut the risk.

California’s Department of Public Health, when asked about Lemp’s concerns, referred this news organization to coronavirus guidelines for retailers, which don’t mention touch-screens but do call for increased cleaning and sanitizing of high-contact areas and training for employees on hygiene practices including hand-washing.

Lamp also supported widespread use of sanitizers, and urged people touching payment screens or other frequently touched surfaces to wear disposable gloves and throw them away after every use. He believes health officials should order retailers with touch-screens to have cashiers and clerks perform debit- and credit-card transactions while wearing disposable gloves that they would have to change frequently.

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Editorial: Prepare for long haul in this surreal coronavirus crisis Drug store chain CVS said in a statement that it had implemented ”hourly protocols for cleaning hard surfaces and more frequent cleaning of commonly handled items, such as payment terminals.” The company also said it was looking at ways to reduce the number of interactions customers have at checkout. Walgreens noted that customers can make purchases with contactless pay systems or tap-and-pay credit cards. “We are also cleaning our keypads frequently throughout the day,” Walgreens said. Consumers can shop online, the drug chain added.

Grocery chains Safeway, Ralph’s, Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s did not immediately respond to requests for comment.