As a completely trivial takeaway from this, now I want to start using tissues to press elevator buttons in hospitals, and possibly bring along surface disinfecting wipes to use on them as well.
Unfortunately, just being metal isn't enough. Most metal surfaces in hospitals are stainless steel, which can hold viable pathogens for a week or more. Silver plating would sterilize some pathogens in as little as 5 minutes.
> Silver plating would sterilize some pathogens in as little as 5 minutes
That would be very expensive for very little benefit - five minutes is more than long enough for multiple people to use the same buttons at a busy hospital during the day.
It's much better to promote behaviors like washing hands before touching food or mucous membranes (like rubbing your eyes) and using alcohol-based hand sanitizers when that isn't practical. That's why you see hand sanitizer dispensers every few feet at (good) hospitals, and why infection rates plummeted when hospitals introduced them.
In addition, never touch those buttons with the tips of your fingers. Use the knuckle of your pinky instead - it's much less common to accidentally use that to touch a mucous membrane later on, so it's slightly better.
The importance of handwashing can't be overstated, it is one of the keystones of sanitation and public health! Hospital transmitted infections would go way down if staff followed all checklists to a T.
It's a matter of defense-in-depth. When the traffic is heavy enough to have less than 5 minutes between contacts, how many more people would be infected after a week?
As for cost, it would be more expensive but less so than you might think. With how thin the plating layer is, even for heavy wear, the material cost is under $500 per square meter. For small objects like buttons, door knobs, and hand rails it's negligible compared to installation and other costs. By switching to a cheaper base material it could even be cheaper over all.
I agree with your assessment. Considering the constant work hospitals put towards maintaining a clean environment, it seems only natural to use self-sterilizing surfaces whenever possible, just as part of the overall system.
> That's why you see hand sanitizer dispensers every few feet at (good) hospitals, and why infection rates plummeted when hospitals introduced them.
Alcohol hand gels give a false sense of cleanliness though. Some hospitals have problems with Norovirus, and it's likely members of the public who've recently had vomiting think it's okay for them to visit a relative because of all the handgel.
While this has nothing directly to do with the OP, but there's an assumption of cleanliness amongst everyone I know. If it looks clean, it must be clean, right?
100% completely wrong. Simple casual observation of people exiting restrooms is proof that if anything is touched, it cannot be clean. I have seen far too many people not washing after going #2 that I simply do not trust a single damn thing that I touch in public. I'm not OCD, but the general piggishness of a large portion of the population is quite disgusting.
I operate on the assumption of filth, and it has kept me from getting sick for nearly 7 years. I avoid public restrooms unless nature is screaming at me, and I carry safety wipes and use them all the time. I use them the moment when I get into my car from visiting anything, anywhere.
I filled in for the building manager at a higher end office building, and the things I have seen were shocking. I have seen non-public bathrooms defiled in disgusting ways...all on touch surfaces. Feces, blood, ejaculate, and who knows what type of drippy bile. This in an upscale business building, mind you. Imagine what horrors are visited upon your common public restroom.
I even wash my soda cans. Probably a bit overkill, and my dad used to give me stick about it until he got sick from drinking from a can that had mouse pee on it.
The neat thing is that being fastidious doesn't take much time or effort. And, it's not like my immune system became Superman overnight 7 years ago, it's that I started being careful with what I did with my hands.
Same. You were not just born into a filthy world. You evolved with the rest of us in a world incredibly densely populated with microbes, and in fact by weight you are more microbes than human.
