On-Site Medical Interpreters: Disinfect Your Phones!

With tensions running high from the spread of Coronavirus in the United States, it seems like everyone is either preaching about washing hands for at least 20 seconds, stockpiling hand sanitizer, or even going so far as to steal boxes of surgical masks from clinics and hospitals. While each measure mentioned is progressively less productive than the last, I’d like to bring to your attention an overlooked means by which we put ourselves and others at risk: our cell phones.

As a freelance medical interpreter, I can cycle between up to four facilities a day. I take all sorts of protective measures to prevent the spread of viruses and bacteria. It’s only natural that my repertoire of methods includes cleaning and disinfecting my phone.

Cleaning is “the removal of germs, dirt, and impurities from surfaces.” Disinfection is the use of chemicals to actually kill germs. By cleaning and then disinfecting a surface, you first reduce the presence of germs, then kill off a percentage of the remaining germs to reduce the likelihood of getting yourself and others sick.

My Phone is Central to My Job

Freelance medical interpreters rely heavily on their phones for their work. Not only do we have to respond to assignment offers quickly via text, phone calls, or e-mail, we also use our phones to get a refresher on terminology. I also work in a teaching clinic and providers love to show patients photos of medications, but rarely have their phones at hand, so I’m often the default Googler. We also sometimes let other people use our phones. Some agencies use an app that requires a signature from a provider, whereas other agencies must confirm over the phone with a staff member if a patient is a no-show or rescheduled.

With how much I touch my phone, it is impossible to prevent it from collecting all sorts of nasties. Despite how hard I try, I sometimes end up touching it in between washing my hands and using hand sanitizer. I posit that our hand hygiene is only as good as our phone hygiene if we’re constantly touching our phones. Needless to say, our phones need to be cleaned on a regular basis too, just like our hands!

Important Notes Before Beginning

Do not, under any circumstances use the following cleansers on your bare phone:

Windex or other household cleaners that contain ammonia
Abrasive cleaners like Bar Keeper’s Friend
Makeup remover
Compressed Air
Dish or hand soap
Vinegar

CNET has a comprehensive article on the types of cleaners to avoid, including isopropyl alcohol for some phones, which I will talk about in the next few paragraphs. These cleansers are far too harsh and can actually permanently damage your phone.

Invest in a Microfiber Cleansing Cloth

Do not use paper towels to clean your phone. Not only are they rough, but they can actually leave behind dust and bits of material on your phone. A microfiber cleansing cloth is a much gentler option that won’t damage your phone or leave behind any debris. Such cloths are widely available in many inexpensive eyeglass repair or cleaning kits.

Does Your Phone Have a Case?

The method by which you clean your phone is highly dependent upon whether it has a case or not, as well as what type of case you have. Broadly, we can narrow these down to three different categories: no case, exposed case, and enclosed case.

A phone with no case is self-explanatory, and from now on I may refer to it as a “naked phone” or “bare phone.”
An exposed case or partial case only covers part of your phone. These are usually inexpensive cases that only cover the back of your phone and have nothing over the screen. People who use cases like these may also purchase a screen protector to offer some level of protection for their phone’s screen.
An enclosed case is a case that completely covers your phone. These are usually the most expensive cases and often have extra features such as being waterproof or water-resistant. These cases usually come in multiple pieces and snap together over your phone.

Example of an exposed phone case. Note how the case only covers the back of the phone and leaves an opening for the camera and buttons.

Example of an enclosed phone case. Note how the case comes in two pieces that snap together to cover the entire phone.

But Wait: My Phone Has a Screen Protector!

Example of a screen protector for your cell phone.

If you have a phone with no case or a phone with a case that only covers the back of your phone, you may have a screen protector. Nowadays, there are broadly two different types of screen protectors:

Liquid screen protectors are basically undetectable once they’re applied and can decrease in effectiveness through wear and tear or removal with some sort of chemical (i.e. rubbing alcohol). They often leave your phone’s screen feeling smooth and thick.
Solid Screen Protectors are usually a thin film (plastic or glass) that may be comprised of multiple layers. They are either affixed by adhesive, static cling, or wet mounted with some sort of solution and left to dry.

Do not use any sort of liquid or cleaning material on your screen or screen protector without first consulting your user manual or the manufacturer’s website to see if it is safe. There are so many different varieties of screen protectors for sale these days, it would be nearly impossible to detail them all in this article.

Step 1: Turn Off Your Phone!

This had to be step one! You’re likely going to be exposing your phone to some level of dampness, so it would be wise to turn it off before getting started!

Step 2: Cleaning

As stated above, the key to reducing the presence of germs and dirt on surfaces to clean, THEN disinfect. The presence of dirt, makeup, oily residue, and any other sort of gunk on surfaces such as your phone or case can serve as a lovely place for germs to hang onto and multiply. It would be wise to wear gloves during this step!

Cleaning Your Phone

The beautiful part of having an enclosed case is you shouldn’t have to take out your phone and clean it often. In fact, the few times I’ve actually taken my phone (Samsung Galaxy S9) out of its Lifeproof FRĒ Series case, I was surprised to find my phone was in pristine, untouched condition. Therefore if you have an enclosed case, cleaning your phone is an entirely optional step as far as I’m concerned.

If you have an exposed case, you will need to separate your case from your phone and clean them both separately. All those exposed grooves are perfect places to accumulate dust, dirt, and all sorts of germs! Honestly, it is my personal and professional opinion that enclosed cases are worth the extra penny for protection and for cleaning purposes.

You may have limited options to clean, let alone disinfect, your phone with no case or your phone with the case removed. Simply put, many cleaners are too harsh and can actually damage your phone. If you have the money to invest in a case, I highly recommend purchasing an enclosed one to make cleaning and disinfecting much easier in the future.

In the past, isopropyl alcohol was an excellent option for cleaning bare cell phones, but…

In the past, isopropyl alcohol (commonly known as “rubbing alcohol”) was an excellent option for cleaning bare cell phones, but many newer phones have a protective coating (oleophobic or hydrophobic) that can wear away quicker as a result of using alcohol. Some liquid screen protectors function in much the same way. As this protective coating wears away, your phone becomes more prone to scratches, and those scratches can harbor a lot of dirt and germs! Before cleaning your bare phone with isopropyl alcohol, check with your phone’s manufacturer for care instructions, specifically with regards to the screen.

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, Apple has reversed their stance on cleaners safe for their phones. Apple has now retracted their previous statements that isopropyl alcohol and Clorox wipes could not be used on their phones. This raises an important question: does the benefit of using such cleansers outweigh the risks in the current pandemic?

Cleaning with Isopropyl Alcohol

If it looks like isopropyl alcohol is a go, alcohol wipes are excellent for scrubbing the gunk off a dirty phone and/or case (so long as it does not have a screen protector that can be damaged by it). Instead of swabs, you can also use your handy-dandy microfiber cleansing cloth, cotton swabs, or q-tips dipped in alcohol.

Cleaning without Alcohol

Fortunately, isopropyl alcohol isn’t 100% necessary for the cleaning step, but it certainly makes short work of it. If you cannot use rubbing alcohol on your phone, consider using your microfiber cloth instead. You can use it dry to get off basic residue and debris, or you can dampen it to get off more considerable “gunk.” If your phone has a screen protector, exercise caution when rubbing down your phone to clean it.

Cleaning Your Case

Much like screen protectors, phone cases come in many different varieties, so before cleaning your case, be sure to consult the user manual, manufacturer, or even your case’s Amazon listing. I specifically mention Amazon listings for phone cases because this is where you can find a lot of actual consumers’ questions and answers about everyday usage of the product.

The most important part of cleaning your case is again, getting off as much dirt, debris, and residue as possible. Depending on the recommendations from your case’s manufacturer, cleaning may be as simple as using a microfiber cleansing cloth to get off the majority of buildup. See if isopropyl alcohol is an option. If your case is a simple piece of formed acrylic, you may even be able to wash it under warm soapy water.

Nooks and Crannies

If your case has a lot of hard corners and ridges, you may be unpleasantly surprised to find that those areas have accumulated dirt and dust. If this is the case, you may be able to use a dry toothbrush or a folded sheet of paper towel to run through the grooves to clean out any debris. If the buildup is difficult to get out, you may be able to gently use a toothpick to work on it.

Step 2: Disinfection

Now that we’ve cleaned our phone and/or case and given germs fewer places to hide, we can move on to disinfection, or the use of chemicals to kill off germs. If you’re not gloved up yet, you’ll want to put some on for this step.

An important note about disinfection, especially disinfecting wipes: the surface to be disinfected must remain visibly wet for a certain period of time to be effective. Don’t be stingy and try and squeeze every last bit of life out of a disinfecting wipe or it won’t be as effective in killing off germs! Consult product packaging for directions regarding how long a surface needs to remain wet.

Disinfecting Your Phone

If we’ve learned anything from the cleaning process, it’s that a bare phone isn’t able to tolerate a lot of chemicals. This effectively limits our ability to disinfect. Furthermore, phones are sensitive to moisture. You want to make sure that if you’re using a spray cleanser, that you spray it on your cleansing cloth of choice instead of directly onto your phone. Your wipes should not be dripping, and disinfecting solution should not be pooling up on or around your phone.

Back to the Iso!

If you have a phone that you were safely able to use isopropyl alcohol on, this will likely be your best solution for disinfection. Unfortunately, according to the CDC, alcohols are not as effective as other disinfectants. In addition, alcohol air dries quickly, making it a difficult to keep the surface wet to disinfect.

Clorox or Lysol Wipes

This is not an option for the faint of heart, as it can very well damage your phone. If you decide to do this, please be aware there is always a possibility that these disinfecting wipes can permanently damage your phone. The only reason why I am mentioning them as an option is because Apple now lists on their website that gently using bleach-free versions of these products is acceptable for cleaning their products. Please exercise your best judgment in deciding whether or not to use these products on your phone.

NOTE: do not under any circumstances use the Lysol “Dual Action” disinfecting wipes (pictured above), as they have a rough texture designed for scrubbing!

Disinfecting Your Case

As with cleaning your phone’s case, disinfecting your phone’s case is highly dependent upon recommendations from the manufacturer, user manual, or Amazon listings with user questions about long-term use of disinfectants. Some manufacturers do not give detailed information about the types of cleansers that are appropriate to use on their cases, so I highly recommend browsing the “Questions and Answers” section of the Amazon listing for your case. One of the biggest advantages of Amazon being such a popular platform is that a lot of people post questions for all sorts of things. Questions and answers are searchable, and if you can’t find the answer to your question, you can ask it!

The search option for the Questions and Answers for this phone case turned up a user experience with Clorox wipes!

Worst case scenario if you’re unsure of what you can use on your case to disinfect it, you can choose to start off with the lightest disinfection method and go from there, seeing how your case responds. If your case gets ruined, you can always buy a new (better!) case that is approved for more disinfecting products, which is easily much less expensive than buying a whole new phone!

Isopropyl alcohol again?!

Once again, isopropyl or “rubbing” alcohol is a somewhat effective disinfectant, and if your case can handle it, it’s your first option. A word of caution, though: according to guidelines on disinfectants by the World Health Organization, “prolonged and repeated use of alcohol as a disinfectant can also cause discoloration, swelling, hardening and cracking of rubber and certain plastics.”

Clorox or Lysol Wipes

Again, this is highly dependent upon the recommendations for the case, but chances are if isopropyl alcohol is not safe for your case, neither are disinfecting wipes. Keep in mind that disinfecting cleansers like these must keep the surface wet for a certain period of time. Follow the instructions on the product packaging to optimize disinfection.

Hospital-Grade Disinfecting or Anti-Microbial Wipes

Believe it or not, some hospital-grade disinfecting wipes can be safe to use on certain phone cases. This was a huge benefit to purchasing my Lifeproof FRĒ Series case for my Samsung Galaxy S9. I spotted in the Amazon listing’s Q&A section that a nurse had been using anti-microbial wipes on her Lifeproof FRĒ case for almost a year and had no issues, and upon Googling it further, I discovered many others had the same experience!

CaviWipes is a common brand of disinfecting wipes used in hospitals and clinics.

Super Sani-Cloth is another brand of germicidal wipe commonly used in hospitals and clinics.

A word to the wise regarding these wipes: always, and I mean always, use gloves when cleaning with these wipes. These are the most common wipes I’ve seen in clinical settings, and both brands recommend gloves when cleaning with them. Ideally, you should be wearing gloves when disinfecting anyways! Be sure to follow instructions on how long the surface must remain wet to disinfect.

Chances are, if you’re interpreting on-site in clinical settings, you will see these wipes. I have occasionally asked staff, especially when exposed to a sick and likely contagious patient, if I can snag a wipe or two and a pair of gloves. Fortunately staff has always been more than happy to allow me to use their wipes because they know it’s not only for my safety, but for theirs and the safety of our patients.

As I’ve said no less than a dozen times in this article, use this method with caution. Ultimately, it is your decision to use these products on your phone’s case. Hopefully that decision is informed with as much research as possible.

Another Option: PhoneSoap

I know, all of this sounds super complicated. There are so many different kinds of phones, screen protectors, and cases, and this series of combinations ultimately results in a very specific method for using cleaning and disinfection products. I’ve recently been seeing a lot of sponsored advertisements for a product called PhoneSoap, which is a sanitization option using UV Light.

Okay, so we’ve learned about disinfection, but how is sanitization different? While disinfection kills a wider range of organisms on a surface (than sanitizers), sanitization reduces bacteria on a surface by at least 99.9%. These distinctions are regulated by the EPA and cannot be labeled as such unless they meet certain criteria.

I honestly thought this product looked and sounded like bunk science, but fortunately I was able to consult with Carolyn Hutchinson, Ph.D, a good friend of mine. Dr. Hutchinson is an analytical-environmental chemist working with contaminants of emerging concern in wastewater. According to them, PhoneSoap is very similar to the technology used in water and wastewater treatment plants, so it’s not baseless. But how does PhoneSoap stand up to COVID-19 or Coronavirus?

Image of an iPhone sitting inside an open PhoneSoap device.

According to PhoneSoap’s website, its UV-C light kills 99.99% of household germs. But which household germs? Testing effectively killed off 99.99% of the following:

Escherichia coli (E. Coli)
Salmonella typhimurium (Salmonella)
Staphylococcus aureus (Staph)
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
Influenza A H1N1 (Flu)
Rhinovirus (common cold)

What we refer to colloquially as Coronavirus is actually COVID-19 (previously referred to as 2019-nCoV), a type of coronavirus. Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrom (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) were also types of coronaviruses. Needless to say, PhoneSoap does not claim to kill off this family of viruses, and I could not find any information on whether or not they have tested for effectiveness on coronaviruses. That being said, it certainly couldn’t hurt, especially if you have a phone or case that is difficult to disinfect or sanitize.

UPDATE [March 16, 2020]: I have been approved for Phonesoap’s affiliate program, meaning I now have a coupon code for 10% off PhoneSoap devices and will receive a percentage of your sale if you purchase through my link. The coupon code is: KGHSANITIZE

Final Thoughts

I’ve made this post as detailed as possible to try and preemptively answer any questions you may have, but I’ve probably missed something. If I’m sharing any incorrect information, please feel free to comment or send me a message.

Being on the front line during a pandemic is undoubtedly a scary thing, but one of the things we can do to take care of our mental health in these uncertain times is to focus on things that we can do. Also, doing whatever makes you feel safe is a wonderful way to cut down on your anxiety level. In my case, I find information and education fulfills both of these needs. This post is especially for those of you who share my sentiments. Be safe and take care of yourself, and remember: clean your phone!