Touchless Tool
date: label: used date
content: 2020
notes: label: Description
content: On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the COVID-19 outbreak had become a pandemic. In February, 2020, before the official declaration of a pandemic, the WHO stated that airborne transmission was “not believed to be a major driver of transmission.” Attention focused instead on transmission through contaminated surfaces.
label: Description
content: By May of 2020, the WHO, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)and other health agencies were recommending that surfaces in communal spaces be disinfected regularly and that people avoid touching potentially contaminated surfaces in public spaces whenever possible. Many Americans became concerned that objects obtained from either brick and mortar or online stores could transmit the virus if they were brought into their homes. Wiping down
label: Description
content: bags and boxes became common as did the practice of disinfecting counters and tables on which these objects had been placed. This caused a run on disinfectant which, in turn, sparked shortages across the country. A corresponding shortage of surgical gloves also developed as Americans flocked to web sites and brick and mortar stores to buy these items.
label: Description
content: By the summer of 2020, several scientific studies, most notably one by Emanuel Goldman, had begun to question this emphasis on transmission via contaminated surfaces. However, it was only in April of 2021 that the CDC formally stated that “surface transmission is not the main route by which SARS-CoV-2 spreads, and the risk [of infection by touch] is considered to be low.” As a result, most Americans continued to carefully follow the CDC’s suggestion that “the risk of fomite transmission can be reduced by wearing masks consistently and correctly, practicing hand hygiene, and taking other measures to maintain healthy facilities.”
label: Description
content: This led many Americans to continue to go to some lengths to avoid touching surfaces or objects that might have been contaminated. As part of this fear, touchless tools---which enabled people to perform basic tasks such as opening bottles or doors---became popular.
label: Description
content: Martha Henderson received a mask and touchless tool from Merrill Lynch, her investment company, as a promotional gift in the spring of 2020 (the company typically sent annual gifts to its investors). Upon opening the box, Henderson was skeptical, noting “the item was strange and more trouble to use than it would be worth, since I can use my elbow to open things, or if I use my hands I can just wash them.” Henderson’s doubt about the value of the object also stemmed from what she had seen called “hygiene theater;” this entailed an emphasis on obsessive and very public acts of cleaning. In the early days of the pandemic, Henderson had dutifully avoided placing grocery bags on her counters and she had carefully wiped down bags and packages she brought into her house. She had also avoided touching surfaces that might be contaminated.
label: Description
content: By the time she received this touchless tool, she had ceased to do this because, as she noted, “Dr. Fauci said that we didn’t have to do that” as airborne transmission was now recognized as the primary means of infection. Henderson kept the tool, however, as she saw it as demonstrating the “deep fear of infection…and the lengths that people would go to in order to keep themselves safe.”
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: China
label: used
content: United States: Minnesota, Minnesota
topic: label: general subject association
content: COVID-19 (Disease)
label: associated subject
content: 2019 novel coronavirus disease
label: associated subject
content: Infectious diseases
label: associated subject
content: 2019-nCoV disease
label: associated subject
content: Disease prevention
label: general subject association; web subjec
content: Communicable Diseases
label: general subject association; web subjec
content: Medicine, Preventive
label: general subject association; web subjec
content: Public Health
label: related event
content: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020-2023
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Martha Henderson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2022.0015.01
label: catalog number
content: 2022.0015.01
label: accession number
content: 2022.0015
objectType: label: Object Name
content: touchless tool
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: metal; cardboard; plastic (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall (including packaging): 5 in x 2 7/8 in x 1/4 in; 12.7 cm x 7.3025 cm x .635 cm