Don’t Let Your Shoes Get You Sick!

22 Nov Don’t Let Your Shoes Get You Sick!

Everywhere you go, your shoes are picking up germs. Your office, the grocery store, a walk around the neighborhood – your shoes are coming into contact with grime, waste, and bacteria that you can track into your home. If you wear your shoes around the house, you could be getting all of those potentially harmful elements on your floor and furniture. 

As we’ve told you before, shoes are dirtier than a toilet seat! So why would you want all of those germs spread around your house? Doctor Charles Gerba from the University of Arizona conducted a study where 10 participants wore brand new shoes for two weeks and then sampled them for germs. “The outside of the shoes averaged 421,000 units of bacteria, compared with 2,887 on the inside. And fecal bacteria appeared on 96% of the shoes.” According to the study, the transfer rate from the shoes to the floor was between 90% and 99%. Gerba told the Baltimore Sun, “I’m starting to make myself paranoid, it seems like we step in a lot more poop than I thought.”

All of this is important because the bottom line is that all of these germs and bacteria can make you sick. E. coli – which can cause UTIs and diarrhea – as well as viruses and bacteria, can all be tracked into your home from your shoes. In a global pandemic, this becomes especially concerning. Whether you work in a clean facility like a lab or nursing home, or you want to keep your family safe and healthy, you must be aware of the impact your shoes can have on all those who enter that particular space.

So what can you do to combat dirty shoes, especially if you are somewhere that requires you to keep your shoes on? The best way to avoid spreading germs on your shoes is to use sterile shoe covers. Shoe Cover Magic makes it extremely easy to put on and remove shoe covers with our shoe cover dispensers and removers which allow for easy, contactless, shoe cover usage. We also offer 16 types of shoe covers, all with varying benefits, so that you can choose the shoe covers that best fit your needs: slip-resistance, waterproof, anti-skid – you name it, we have it. Our systems can help keep you, your loved ones, and co-workers all safe from the germs we pick up with our shoes every day.