MIDLAND, Texas — The CDC has been asking people to practice social distancing.
The goal is to curve the spread of COVID-19.
That means no handshakes or high fives, but how fast and far do germs travel on a person's hands and inside a workplace?
NewsWest9 did a two-part germ simulation experiment using Glo Germ, a learning material that shows cross contamination.
In your average work place, germs travel and spread like a wildfire.
At the end of the experiment, a black light revealed simulated germs everywhere.
Part 1:
Kirsten Geddes is a digital content producer at NewsWest 9.
She spends most of her day in the newsroom, a similar environment to most offices.
To find out how many germs a person comes into contact with while they're working in an office, Glo Germ was put on Kirsten's hands.
A timer was started for an hour, and Kirsten went back to work.
Even before the timer went off and without the black light flashlight simulated germs could be seen on her keyboard, phone, and mouse.
After the timer went off the flashlight revealed simulated germs on her pants, face and even in her hair.
This was just an hour long experiment, and Kirsten never left her chair.
If she had walked around the office, imagine how many germs that she would spread and share- serving as a reminder of the importance of washing your hands.
Part 2:
Traditionally handshakes symbolize peace, showing that neither person was carrying a weapon.
COVID-19 fears have put a stop to that tradition.
Now people consider the germs on a person's hands a weapon.
To test how far and fast germs travel on a person's hands we had 8 employees line up to put the simulated germs to the test.
Jolina was first- she was the source of the germs.
As Jolina shook Victor's hands she instantly spread her germs to him and then the germs continued down the line.
Without the black light, the germs were invisible to the naked eye at the end of the line, but turning the black light on revealed how fast and far germs travel.
The next time someone wants to shake your hand or give a high five, throw them a quick elbow instead.
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