To make sure I wasn’t overreacting, I asked some experts for their take on the matter. While it should be noted that the experiments were conducted in a tightly controlled lab environment and mileage may vary in real-life situations, it does reveal that there’s a real risk for a passport to become a germ-spreading vehicle. A recently published report by scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) revealed that the COVID-19 virus could still be detected on plastic surfaces (such as passport covers) up to three days after the initial contamination. Turns out, I get to have the metaphorical last laugh. How many had they touched before handling mine? Ten? Fifty? Three hundred? As my mind began to spin about the amount of germs those bare fingers potentially pressed onto my travel document, I generously spritzed it with alcohol, just to be on the safe side, and much to the amusement of my fellow travelers. While there were some bottles of hand sanitizer in sight, it would’ve been unrealistic to expect staff to thoroughly clean their hands every time they touched a passport. However, I noticed that one travel essential collected far more fingerprints than anything else: my passport.Īt the check-in booth, upon entering the terminal, during luggage screening, and before boarding, my passport went through at least four sets of ungloved hands (and since this was a domestic flight, I didn’t even have to pass through immigration).
#Clean my passport for mac driver
I even went as far as disinfecting my suitcase handle after the taxi driver kindly handed it to me. I also developed an eagle-eyed awareness about everything me and my belongings came in contact with.
While I didn’t pull a full-on Naomi, I did pack a spray bottle with alcohol-based disinfectant to clean armrests and tray tables, an N95-mask to wear in the crowded airport terminal (nothing new here, due to Bangkok’s horrible air pollution, a mask has been part of my standard outfit since January), and took a rinse-and-repeat approach to washing my hands whenever possible.
#Clean my passport for mac how to
Before I left home, I dutifully followed advice on how to fly safely during this pandemic and made a mental checklist of precautions to take.
While Thailand, where I live, is now discouraging air travel to contain the coronavirus outbreak, I was still on the move earlier this month, when a quick weekend jaunt (my last one for a while) from Bangkok to Phuket saw me pass through two different airports four times in the span of 48 hours.
It now takes a little more preparation, both physically and mentally. If you must travel right now, flying is no longer a matter of mindlessly chucking some clothes, wallet, and passport in a bag and jumping in a taxi to the airport (which has been my go-to strategy thus far). There’s air travel before COVID-19, and there’s now, this strange time of health declaration forms, temperature checks, and stuffing 12-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer in your carry-on.