Hand tools that protect against coronavirus are breaking Ring doorbells

[midian182]

Facepalm: Covid-19 has affected many elements of our lives, including how we interact with everyday objects. With the virus able to live on surfaces for up to 72 hours, sales of keychains that can be used in place of fingers have rocketed—but it seems some devices weren’t designed for such things, including Ring doorbells.

You’ve probably seen ads for products such as Hygiene Hand recently. Described as antimicrobial door openers/button-pressers/stylus, they can be used for finger-based tasks that could spread Covid-19, including signing/touching screens, hitting ATM keys, opening doors, and pushing physical buttons.

While these tools work well when calling elevators and the like, it seems they might be a bit too robust for Ring doorbells. ZDNet’s Adrian Kingsley-Hughes writes that reports of smart doorbells being broken by various door openers are surfacing. He discovered one Ring bell that was left with a hole after someone appears to have pushed a door opener into it with a bit too much gusto.

If the Ring doorbell in this instance isn’t already broken, it’s unlikely to last long once rainwater gets inside.

Smart doorbells were designed for fleshy digits rather than tough metal, of course. Thankfully, makers are said to be replacing any that are smashed by the tools. The obvious solution, of course, is not to ram a piece of metal into the devices like you’re trying to punch through a wall.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/86732-hand-tools-protect-against-coronavirus-breaking-ring-doorbells.html

 

[treetops]

Just use your knuckle, elbow, wrist etc, old plastic bags, water bottle caps, water bottles, set them aside use them again in 72 hours, we could even make something that rotates "plastic gloves" for gas stations, atms etc, mcdonalds is smart enough to make a door that opens with your foot

picture a juke box that puts out a reusable glove with a metal wire attached to it for each new customer, say you have 1k customers a day etc at a atm, a stock of 4k reusable "gloves", the used glove is retracted back into the machine, on the used side, at the end of the day that "jukebox" is stored and or santized for 4 days. yes you can make it safe, this is just a basic concept

even a simple plastic bottle cap dispenser would work at a atm, or gasp a barrel of caps, bags, leave the door open?

cheap pens...

dog **** bags, recycle your own bags, give everyone x amount of dog **** bags, tell them not to be silly, put on a mask, use your bag, place old bags in a bag, place that bag in a corner for 72+ hours, then reuse those bags

 

[Emexrulsier]

Or don't do any of that and just use your fingers and then wash your hands if your so bloody scared.

 

[treetops]

Or don't do any of that and just use your fingers and then wash your hands if your so bloody scared.

I work with people who live with at risk people. One of my coworkers is over 70 years old. I make deliveries. We had to shut down once already from an outbreak. Recycling plastic bags seems cheap and effective. Public door ways, gas pumps, door bells, banks. It's not for me. We could carry soap around. Idk how rare it is to get hand sanitizer at this point.