Coronavirus: Is it safe to reuse my water bottles?
“According to the CDC, the disease spreads mostly through respiratory droplets from an infected person’s coughs or sneezes.
However, while there is an outbreak experts recommend that you wash and sanitize your bottles after every use.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/reusable-water-bottle-coronavirus-outbreak_l_5e611e98c5b6bd126b772ce6
“I don’t think that people’s office water bottles are going to be the way that this pandemic unfolds. It’s coughs and sneezes,” Adalja said. “But there are people that are worried about the most esoteric means of transmission, and I think that kind of detracts from the main message here, that this is a respiratory virus: Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, cover your coughs.”
“As far as I know, there is no difference in frequency [of cleaning] during flu season,” she told us. That doesn’t mean we should be taking the recommendations lightly as respiratory diseases are spreading—it simply means we should be taking them more seriously year-round.
As long as you are washing with soap and water daily, your cups and bottles should be safe from infectious germs.
“Many people were concerned that by simply touching an object they may get coronavirus, and that’s simply not the case. Even when a virus may stay on a surface, it doesn’t mean that it’s actually infectious,” Whyte said. “I think this new guideline helps people understand more about what does and doesn’t increase risk. It doesn’t mean we stop washing hands and disinfecting surfaces. But it does allow us to be practical and realistic as we try to return to a sense of normalcy.”
“We want to reassure customers that there is currently no evidence of human or animal food or food packaging being associated with transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19,” the FDA wrote in a news release. “This particular coronavirus causes respiratory illness and is spread from person-to-person, unlike foodborne gastrointestinal or GI viruses, such as norovirus and hepatitis A that often make people ill through contaminated food.”
*Please remember to sanitize your bottle inside and out before refilling!*
For bottle sanitizing tips, click here.