Keeping our homes healthy and free from COVID-19.
Summary: Higher humidity levels greatly reduce the average surface lifespan of the coronavirus and decrease the risk of community transmission.
Check out our collection of humidifiers here.
The only thing worse than getting the coronavirus is knowing that you've given it to someone else.
If you're anything like us here at Missed, then you've probably started to incorporate some anti-coronavirus tips into your daily routine. We've begun to wash our hands incessantly, work from home, and limit our outings to only the local grocery store or restaurant pick-up.
However, what's just as, if not more important than going through the motions, is knowing how the coronavirus spreads; understanding how this virus infects people is the key in making sure we don't put ourselves or our loved ones at risk.
Over the past few days, our team has been consulting expert-opinions and thoroughly studying what there is to know on the topic of the coronavirus. We've done our best in an attempt to condense the hundreds of articles out there into a 3-minute read and give it to you plain & simple - the key to creating a safer environment might just be humidity.
Here's how it works:
The general rule of thumb is that the only way you can get the coronavirus, as it stands, is by allowing it into your body via your face.
Now obviously if someone with the coronavirus sneezes in your face, your odds aren't great. However, you can also contract COVID-19 if you happen to even touch a surface that someone else with the illness has recently interacted with.
Someone could have been at the grocery store without knowing they had the virus; the touch-pad at the register, the grocery cart they were pushing, and maybe even an employee at the store could very well pass that virus onto you.
But here's where things get interesting; as long as the virus does not enter your system through your face, you are most likely safe. This means that if you wash your hands thoroughly, you should be free from practically all the risk you incurred by touching things.
Ok, but what about your clothes? What about your door handle you opened before washing your hands, your car keys, or your purse? What if the coronavirus got onto something else, and you ended up touching those things?
You are absolutely right in assuming that if you have come into contact with the coronavirus, it's probably on much more than just your hand, and if you've watched the news lately, this is when they tell you to remember to disinfect everything... but how do you just "disinfect everything?"
The right humidity level is essential.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the virus' lifespan is only that of a few hours in the right conditions.
In certain environments, the virus can live up to days, but generally in the US, any viruses that are present on a surface will die in under a day.
The coronavirus is particularly weak to humid and hot settings, but there's not much you can do to control the temperature outside, and even if you could, we'd have to dial things up quite a bit.
Humidity, on the other hand, is much easier to control. Typical household humidity levels are between 20-40%, and in an academic paper published by the American Society for Microbiology, it was found that the virus dies significantly quicker at higher humidity levels up to 80%.
What the experts are suggesting:
According to Condair, the CDC, and Fox Business, adding a household humidifier to your environment could be one of the best ways to relieve respiratory symptoms & to keep you and your loved ones safe from any coronavirus that you might have introduced to your home after returning from a seemingly harmless trip.
Keep washing your hands, try and have a jacket that you specifically wear when you're going out, and picture the coronavirus as a small, super sticky, particle that dies in just a few hours if your home is humid enough.
Keep your distance from anything that you might suspect, and just run a humidifier or two in your home to ensure that anything that managed to make it in just ends up dying off in a few hours.
Our team personally recommends you to keep whichever room you spend the most time in at the right humidity level. For us, it's our office, our living rooms, and our bedrooms; if you have pets, try to avoid too much interaction for that first hour when you get back home, or at least make sure you change your clothes & wash your hands. If you need a quick crash course on how to choose the right humidifier for you, check out my other blog post here.
Final thoughts!
Buying a humidifier isn't going to solve all your problems and "corona-proof" your home, but it definitely does help with decreasing the risk that we expose ourselves to on a daily basis.
With all this being said, I hope we've managed to give you a few extra ways to stay safe during this global health crisis.
On a final note, we want be completely transparent and honest with our readers: although we do design and sell our own humidifiers at Missed Global, we assure you that we are just trying to spread the word on humidity as a potential solution. We encourage you to continue to read up on the potential benefits of owning humidifiers and consider adding one to your household, even if it does not end up being from our collection.
Humidifiers have always been great flu companions and symptom relievers, and we just want to make sure that everyone knows how great a humidifier can be for your safety & health in a time like this.
For those of you who want to learn more, I've attached a number of academic papers, news articles, and press releases on humidifiers for coronavirus below.
Practice caution, stay optimistic, and take care of yourselves! Our entire team at Missed is sending you all our best wishes and healthy vibes - thanks for reading! If you have any questions, thoughts, or concerns, feel free to reach out to our team via our contact page or leave a comment below!
- Written by Henry J.
Lead Product Specialist
FOX BUSINESS NEWS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYs-82Y-644
CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/general-information.html
AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR MICROBIOLOGY: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2863430/
CLEVELAND NEWS: https://www.cleveland.com/news/2020/03/how-humidity-could-help-fight-coronavirus.html
DUKE UNIVERSITY: https://www.dukehealth.org/covid-19-update
