Cellphones, especially the smartest ones help many people endure the COVID-19 lockdown; but researchers say they’re the biggest carriers of microbes.

The info is from earlier public health research reports published a few years ago. They now come to mind as people across the globe are going through a period of isolation and uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The most appalling and alarming description that researchers had given back then in describing cell phones as the most unsanitary object is that

These devices actually exist as petri dishes of unpleasant microbes that are definitely not the ideal to have and hold during a modern plague.

Now do we stop and wonder if our smartphones are clean enough to keep us safe from possible COVID-19 transmission?

Cell Phones: Ten Times Dirtier Than Toilet Seats

In 2017, researchers at the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan reported that an average cell phone is ten times dirtier than a toilet seat.

Emily Martin, University of Michigan’s assistant professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health commented that cell phones tend to get pretty gross. People habitually carry their cell phones even in situations where before doing anything, they would normally wash their hands. Ms. Martin added that one of the worst places where people use their phone is in the bathroom,

A Deloitte survey found out that generally, Americans are into checking their cell phones by as many as 47 times each day. That being the case, the devices open up plenty of opportunities for microorganisms to shift from a person’s fingers to his or her handheld device.

At the time of their research, Professor Martin said that most of the organisms they found on the cell phones they examined were not pathogens that can make people seriously sick.

Still, scientists at the University of Arizona (UA) also conducted a similar study. They examined the handheld devices of high school students, to get an idea on the average number of germs that could be crawling on cell phones. Their findings revealed that as many as 17,000 bacterial genomes had spread on the cell phones examined. The UA scientists also concluded that when compared to toilet seats, cell phones carry ten times more in numbers of bacteria.

Microbiologist Had Warned that Through Cell Phones, Viruses Can Spread

In light of the reports published by public health researchers, Dr. Susan Whittier, the Director of Columbia University Medical Center’s clinical microbiology had warned that we are not moving through sterile environments. Since numerous environmental contaminants exist around us, viruses can also spread by way of cell phones.