The Dirty Facts

EVERY DAY

The average person encounters 300 surfaces every 30 minutes, exposing you to

840,000 germs.

Researchers in London estimate that if everyone routinely washed their hands, a million deaths a year could be prevented.

Nearly 80% of illness-causing germs are spread by your hands.

Germs can survive for up to 3 hours on your hands.

One germ can multiply into more than 8 million in one day.

Know Your Germ Hotspots

Now that we’re all finding responsible ways back to normal life, it’s a good idea to know the facts about germs, surfaces, hotspots, and what to do to keep yourself safe.

Hotel

The average hotel elevator button has 1,477 times more germs than the average household bathroom door handle and 737 times more than a toilet seat. source

The average hotel stairwell door handle has 1839 times more germs than a household bathroom door handle and 918 times more than a toilet seat. source

Samples taken from 19 surfaces in three hotel rooms in Texas, Indiana and South Carolina, showed that 81% of surfaces sampled had some fecal bacteria. source

Airplane

Disease-causing bacteria on airplane surfaces can linger for days, even up to a week. source

Airplane seatback trays can have 8 times more germs than the toilet flush button. source

A TODAY investigation found E. Coli, Klebsiella and Acinetobacter (fecal bacteria) in the plastic bins in the TSA security line. source

Gas Station

On average, gas pumps have more than 11,000 times more bacteria than the common household toilet seat. source

Pump station buttons have been found to house 15,000 times more bacteria than the common household toilet seat. source

The regular gas pump has 668 times more germs on it than the plug handle used when recharging electric vehicles, which still has 7890 CFUs (colony forming units) of disease carrying germs - still enough to warrant a wipe-down. source

Take wearable confidence with you, wherever you go SHOP THE MITT