The copper touch helps bring safety to surfaces

COVID-19 has changed the way we live, socialise and work. Many of us are subject to different measures of isolation and have travel restricted to a few kms or intrastate. But one thing is certain. Touch a door handle, a lift button, a supermarket trolley handle or any of the countless touchpoints outside your home and you need to head for the hand sanitiser pronto — without touching your face.

When you get home from whatever environment you’ve been in, it’s into the bathroom to wash your hands while you mentally sing Happy Birthday twice. Only then can you breathe a sigh of relief.

Silver or copper?

Now there are products that focus on making touchpoints safe. But not all antimicrobial products are equal. You might have heard of nanofilms, or silver-ion films, that provide some antimicrobial protection to surfaces — they are known to be less effective than antimicrobial copper. A study of antimicrobial activity of copper and silver nanofilms found copper-covered surfaces to have better antimicrobial activity than silver surfaces.

Touch Safe antimicrobial copper film is one such example of touchpoint protection. The product continuously kills microbes that are transmitted by human touch. Moisture in the air reacts with the film’s copper particles. Activated oxygen species form, constantly destroying the DNA of harmful bacteria, including MRSA, E. coli, C. diff. Colitis — and all the known strains of coronavirus.

Touch Safe copper film products are manufactured using only copper materials registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which must be proven to kill 99.99% of bacteria. No product can ever kill 100% of bacteria.

The film comprises four identical layers. As each layer eventually wears down from frequent touching, it remains effective until the very end.

Touch Safe can be used on public transport, on strap hangers, vertical poles and grab rails. In schools, on door handles, play equipment, desks and on computer screens and keyboards, eliminating the hot-desk issue for students.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/freshidea