A lot of businesses emptied their offices as the government issued an order to switch to a work-from-home setup to avoid increasing the number of infected people. Banning work in offices isn’t just a safety measure, since offices are also one of the primary spaces that let the spreading of viruses and bacteria happen rapidly. 

Don’t be surprised to know how viruses spread quickly in an average office. A compromised surface can easily infect the majority of people in the office because it is a shared room. It is said that you are picking up 30 to 50 percent of organisms on any surface once you touch it, so spreading a virus within the day is not impossible. You must have seen this with your own eyes, how a single person with a cold infected his or her co-workers.

The break room is one of the most, if not crowded, visited spaces in the office, so don’t be surprised if the doorknob or any surface has numerous bacterias, viruses, and organisms on them. We all know that viruses can’t keep themselves alive. They need a host cell, namely a human, an animal, or a bacteria. 

Conditions for a Virus to Spread

Air temperature

It all comes down to how cold or hot your area is. It is true that viruses live longer in cold weather and warm weather develops them, so you have to be pretty serious when it comes to cleaning if you really want to avoid catching these viruses. Viruses like the flu are most likely to enter through the mouth and nose, but our nasal passages usually have a strong defense against them. However, having a cold slows down the ability of your nose to clear mucus in return allowing the virus to infect the body. 

Depending on where you spend most of your lockdown, the risk of infection may also increase even if you are indoors. Inside our homes or bedrooms are always crowded with spaces that may provide less than ideal ventilation and cramped personal space. The heating system also makes the air in the room drier. Studies have shown that these conditions can have a significant impact on respiratory virus infections.

Not disinfected surfaces

Another condition that will spread a virus to the majority of office workers is the action of not disinfecting a surface on a daily basis. Yes, viruses do not spread themselves on surfaces but once a living being comes into contact with it and starts touching other surfaces then that would be a completely different story. 

Infection often occurs when these viruses enter through your mouth and nose or exposure to respiratory droplets from already infected people. Hands are more prone to spreading the virus quickly compared to sneezing or coughing. So, regular disinfection of highly touched places should be performed. 

As mentioned earlier, viruses stay on surfaces but the length of their stay would depend on the surface they landed on. Below are some of the surfaces virus stay and how long they survive there without any person making contact with it. 

Stainless Steel

We are sure a lot of offices use things that are made of stainless steel which are needed to perform some daily activities such as machinery, door handles, refrigerators, metal handrails, keys, cutlery, and other industrial equipment. With the said surfaces above, studies show that viruses stay for 3 to 7 days on them. 

Plastic

Another material objects often have is plastic. And let’s not forget how many things in your office are made out of them. For example, food packing, water bottles, credit cards, remote controls, light switches, computer keyboard and mouse, ATM buttons, and more. The virus is said to last for 3 to 7 days.

Copper

Another type of metal that viruses can survive on is copper, but unlike stainless steel, viruses only stay on copper for a maximum of 4 hours. Examples of copper are coins, cookware, jewelry, and electrical wires.

Paper

Different kinds of paper also have different survival times for viruses, and one of them is what you always have in your wallets, paper money. One study shows that viruses can stay for 4 days max on paper money but can only last for 3 hours on printing paper and tissue paper. 

Glass

Surfaces such as windows, mirrors, drinkware, and screens for televisions, computers, and smartphones can let a virus live for 4 days max if not wiped by a disinfecting wipe. 

Cardboard

Cardboard just like copper cannot incubate viruses for a long time. Viruses can only stay alive on cardboard surfaces, food packaging, and shipping boxes, for 20 hours at most. 

Wood

At present, wood decorations are becoming more popular, but be ready for constant disinfecting because viruses stay on this surface for a maximum of 2 days. So be sure to disinfect your wooden tabletops, furniture, and shelving daily. 

Other things that let viruses survive

• Clothes can hold viruses for 2 days max.
• Shoes and the floor aren’t proven to hold viruses for hours, but it won’t hurt to clean your sole shoes and mop the floor whenever you come home.
• Food hasn’t proved this either but handling them with care is still a must because we don’t know what the future holds.
• Water, on the other hand, can leat viruses survive on it for 10 days at room temperature, but it barely survives at higher temperatures. You can see that temperature still plays a major part.

Therefore, viruses like COVID are very sensitive to their environments. They become unstable over time and that means they become inactive. Although that’s the case, we still advise you not to let your guard down just yet. So be sure to have a hand sanitizer wherever you go and let your employees have access to them if they are working in the office. We also suggest ordering your employees to use a tissue or paper towel when touching a surface. Lastly, regularly disinfect surfaces to avoid your employees from spreading and catching the virus.