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Dear Omar
Not All Germ-Killing Gadgets Kill the Coronavirus
I saw the light, but I can’t tell if it’s keeping me safe
Welcome to Dear Omar, a weekly Debugger column from tech expert Omar L. Gallaga answering all the gadget and technology questions you were afraid to ask.
It’s been almost a year since we became obsessed with germs, with viruses, with our filthy hand-washing habits, suddenly unacceptable when Covid-19 came knocking.
I wonder sometimes if we’ll forget that helpless feeling we had circa April–May 2020, when so much early uncertainty about the workings of SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes Covid-19, led to extreme changes in behavior. We scrubbed saltine boxes that we brought home from the grocery store and sprayed every delivered package with sanitizer, afraid that every new foreign object introduced to our home environment was trying to kill us.
At the time, we were all wishing for some kind of magic wand that could kill the coronavirus, but we’ve since learned that it’s not so much about zapping the virus as it is about good hygiene practices, distancing, and limiting contact with other people, not contaminated pizza boxes and tainted countertops.
