HEALTH HAZARDS AT THE CHECKPOINT: bare feet dirty trays and awkward movements

摘要

Shoes off, belt off, jacket off, LAGs in clear bags, pour liquids away, phone and smart watch in bag, laptop and tablet out of bag (oh, and in their own trays), push trays onto conveyor, walk through metal detector, bracelet sets off the alarm (you always forget about this one), bracelet goes inside tray, walk back through the metal detector again, get a pat down for good measure, collect bracelet, collect bags, one has to for a swabbing... swab, swab, swab... all clear... repack bags, belt on, shoes on, jacket on... jacket off (feeling a little hot after all that), head for coffee. This is my typical checkpoint routine and, although it's all over in a couple of minutes (if I'm lucky), I must admit it's still all a bit of a hassle and often hard to keep up with the different regulations. But, with it all in the name of security, we comply and jump through the hoops. However, all the while we are distracted by our security duties, darker forces are at work; microscopic forces with the ability to rapidly multiply, attacking us from the inside and spreading across the globe. These forces... GERMS! As people travel around the world, they do not do so alone. Rather, many carry with them viral, bacterial and fungal infections and airports are prime grounds for these imperceptible hitchhikers to spread. The University of Nottingham and the Finnish National Institute for Health and Welfare conducted a study in 2016 in which they swabbed a variety of the most-touched airport surfaces to discover where they could find the highest concentrations of bacteria and viruses. The security checkpoint came out the worst with the greatest offenders being plastic security trays - they carried more germs than toilets! To many, the results of this study won't have been a surprise. From bare feet to tens of thousands of hands handling trays into which we place shoes alongside our toiletries, phones and laptops, and from pat-down searches performed by a stranger who has previously been rubbing their hands over the body of another passenger to the uncomfortably close proximity with others in the queue, the whole process is a germaphobe's worst nightmare. One might also wonder just how often the security trays are individually cleaned?