Can You Catch COVID-19 From A Credit Card?

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all of us. Some of you reading this may have not been able to run your business and if you have been able to run your business it has not quite been business as usual. COVID-19 is a highly communicable disease and while its lethality is debated in circles on the Internet no one wants to catch it. If you have been fortunate enough to be able to stay open you may have followed the lead of others and began only accepting credit cards. Should you be worried about catching COVID-19 from a credit card?

Can COVID-19 Survive On Plastic?

Yes, COVID-19 can survive on plastic. The length varies on how long it can survive though. Some studies found that it can survive for 3 days while others found that it can survive for up to a week. In fact credit cards have always been havens for germs and it has never really been a problem for any healthy person. It is more than likely that a lot of cards will be replaced by the time this is all over though.

As a comparison COVID-19 can survive on paper money for about 3-4 days. Considering many merchants have been reluctant to accept paper money it seems that many of those fears are unfounded and COVID-19 on a credit card can infect you equally. 

What Can You Do?

The solution for many merchants has been to make the POS terminal available to the customer only, that is the merchant never handles the card. That might be good for the merchant but is not so good for other customers that follow an infected card. Of course disinfecting your POS terminal can be done but it will be very hard to disinfect the card slot, so you might be fighting a losing battle.

Of course you can encourage customers to disinfect their cards with disinfecting wipes or an alcohol-based sanitizer. In a pinch soap and warm water can work too. The friction that is generated by the act of cleaning wipes away the virus or damages its membrane effectively killing it. Of course this could also damage a card’s magnetic strip or chip, so do it gently. 

There are two very easy things that can be done by everyone as well. The first is to wear protective gloves and if you are handling the card this is the way to go. The other is to make sure that you and your customers are washing their hands. This is the simplest way to kill COVID-19 and is something that everyone can do.

Other Options

As a merchant in this modern economy you have been blessed with multiple different payment options. If you are able to accept contactless payment you already have a way to protect yourself. There are other cardless payment options as well like PayPal, ApplePay, Samsung Pay or Google Pay. If you accept these forms of payment you have also taken a step to protecting yourself (and you probably didn’t even think about it at the time). Give yourself a pat on the back for your foresight and get back to work.

Eventually COVID-19 will run its course and business will return to some semblance of normalcy. It might take awhile though. If you have been looking for a reason to upgrade your POS terminal or to explore other payment options, now is as good a time as any. It is quite possible that COVID-19 will return and further restrictions will be necessary. If you can protect both yourself and your customers you will be doing your part to prevent the spread and you will be able to stay in business as well.

If you are interested in an upgrade give JLE Business Consultants a call. We can go over all of your payment options and find a solution that is right for you. It doesn’t matter whether you are open for business now or are waiting for restrictions to be lifted so you can get back to your business, we can help.