[Harp-L] Subject: Video re bacteria on cellphones/ Harp? handwashing at Conventions...

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

Sorry:  this may be a bit "out there" to most people here, but I  couldn't 
help but extrapolate cell phone usage to the points made in this video  (luckily 
for me I only use mine when I travel to harmonica conventions  :)...   
 
1)  They're small devices held to the mouth
 
2)  They're primarily plastic and metal
 
3)  One rarely cleans them after every use (unless you're Jason Ricci  and me 
...and admittedly a tad OCD in your cleaning rituals)..then you tolerate  
slings and barbs about being "germ phobic" <G>  - my separate  argument about 
THAT issue is below...**
 
4)  They usually reside in leather/plastic/fabric cases and are  carried on 
one's person (pocket, pocketbook) everywhere one goes....
 
...anyone heard the old joke about the person in the next toilet stall  
talking...assuming it's to them...responding, then finally being told by the  other 
person that they're having a conversation on their cell phone?....it's  left 
un-mentioned in the video, but the Doctor does imply that IS where a lot of  
the germs originate from.
 
Sufficient comparisons?  Watch the video. 
_Click  here: Phones dirtier than toilets - AOL Video_ 
(http://video.aol.com/video/news-phones-dirtier-than-toilets/1941834)  
 
 
 I HAD already planned to mention a fairly new product here I've been  using 
as a non-wood body harmonica (and case) spritz (bought at the  supermarket):  
 
Clorox ANYWHERE Hard Surface Daily Sanitizing Spray (it's in an opaque pale  
blue bottle)..."kills 99.9% of bacteria on hard non-porous surfaces...Gentle  
enough to use around kids, pets and food, No harsh fumes, Leaves no harmful  
residue, No rinsing necessary, Color safe".  Disclaimer...I've no  connection 
to the Company...just an extremely satisfied customer (and pet  owner).
 
....Alternately, I use Household Surface Wipes, no name brand,  I buy 
Kirkland's Signature Lemon scented ones...they work for everything  where a spray 
can't be used or isn't convenient..... buy those at Sam's  Club...
 
**The argument is constantly promulgated about the "old days when people  
never worried about bacteria and germs".  Okay.  Fair point.  My  idea of that, 
is:
 
 1) people really didn't live half as long as they do today, and germs  
probably DID kill a lot more people than we know about, not having the means to  
trace outbreaks, pre- CDC....
 
2)  Ignorance "isn't" bliss (imho).
 
3)  With Air travel today making it easy to walk down "any" Main  Street USA 
the day after having just come from any third world country where  diseases 
such as TB still have not yet been eradicated...comparisons with "the  good old 
days" become moot, (in my humble opinion, of course).  I doubt any  of our 
parents and grandparents had ever imagined such a thing as "flesh-eating  
diseases" either.  
 
(I might explain that a friend's husband died a few years ago after routine  
heart by-pass surgery from a devastating bacteria introduced during  
surgery...not caught by the doctors/hospital, and subsequent symptoms ignored  until 
much too late to save his life).
 
Not trying to be a scare-monger...just that simple and easy precautions  
...not only for one's cell phone, but for harmonicas...can go a LONG way to  
keeping specific bacteria and germs at bay, as much as is feasible.  No one  
expects miracles...as you'll see in the video, there were so many different  levels 
of contamination on the phones tested.  But  perhaps help stop  mass outbreaks 
of summer food poisoning as well  - just heard of  another one at an outdoor 
Music festival.
 
  And bottom line...for Pete's sake...everyone by now should know that  it's 
de rigeur to wash one's hands for 2 - 3 minutes (no matter how big a  rush one 
might be in) before exiting a bathroom.  I still see  people not bothering 
and unfortunately have become aware of it at  Conventions.  These Hotels have 
automatic faucets, and soap dispensers  taking all the "work" out of washing 
one's hands..so just how lazy can a  person get?  There is also a waterless hand 
cleanser product...bottle  is small and portable.   A lot of us, just by the 
nature of the group  playing DO end up handing our harps around to others, I've 
watched people  exchange harmonicas all the time...so please do your fellow 
harpists a big  favour...
 
Elizabeth



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