Supercharger Connector and Covid-19

[rgedad]

When home I do charging via my installed home charger.
However, I recently (3/6 - 3/13) took a road trip from DFW to Taos NM (11 hour drive) and back, for family vacation - using superchargers for the transit, but home wall charging while there. After my return, and having instituted a hard lock-down with family members, I realized that I had been handling the Tesla Supercharger cable without sanitizing or protection. Since this was several weeks ago - without illness, I was not overly concerned, nor am I planning on any more travel. I was however curious if there might have been a issue that I avoided.

I realize there is extensive anecdotal/misleading/hearsay Covid information - some of it rather dubious - so I typically go to the expert source for my Covid information.

The New England Journal of Medicine published a study on Covid virus Surface Stability.
Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1
https://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
Note: SARS-CoV-2 = (formerly called HCoV-19)

Couple of excepts from that Study - "…SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard, and viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application to these surfaces (Figure 1A), although the virus titer was greatly reduced (from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter of medium after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel…". I read this to mean the virus can remain viable on the connector for up to 72 hours.

In short, when using the charging connector on the Tesla Supercharger, disinfect it, or handle with paper towel, and then, as always, Wash Your Hands.

 

[Tessaract]

Yes indeed.

A SC handle should be handled with the same precautions as a gas pump handle... which is to say: be EXTREMELY careful with these. Disinfect the SC or gas pump handle, wear nitrile (or other liquid-impervious) gloves (a paper towel is not sufficient to prevent contamination). Dispose of the gloves after handling (don't have them float around your car, where they will just distribute contamination to your car interior). Learn how to remove nitrile gloves safely (see Vendor - Addressing the claims on social media of interior detailing as protection from COVID-19) And wash your hands with soap for 20 seconds.

 

[Gardyloo]

It should not be necessary to disinfect the pump handle, wear gloves AND wash afterwards. It is entirely sufficient to do the easy thing: disinfect with Purell or equivalent, or wash your hands properly after pumping your electrons. Just don't touch your face before disinfecting your hands...or if you worry about that, use the Purell twice, i.e., after each contact with the pump handle.

 

[Tessaract]

It should not be necessary to disinfect the pump handle, wear gloves AND wash afterwards. It is entirely sufficient to do the easy thing: disinfect with Purell or equivalent, or wash your hands properly after pumping your electrons. Just don't touch your face before disinfecting your hands...or if you worry about that, use the Purell twice, i.e., after each contact with the pump handle.

Perhaps. But disinfecting the pump/SC handle adds robustness to the process. But if you don't disinfect the handle, even if you use nitrile gloves, but inadvertently (it's hard to control involuntary actions) rub your face with those gloves, then you've just bypassed your precautions. Had you disinfected the pump/SC handle, you would have had a fail safe to protect yourself should a fault in your other precautions occur.

With the exponential increase in infections, it's obvious that society and individuals are not taking sufficient precautions. I would strongly urge more precautions, rather than the "bare minimum"

 

[Gardyloo]

Touching your face is why I mentioned disinfecting twice.
But my recommendation was based on the video at

. It was done by a doc at the largest hospital in NYC. It has been converted to covid patients only, and he has been treating them 12-hrs/day. In the video he describes what is essential and what is not in protecting yourself and others, based on their extensive experience at the hospital. It is well worth viewing, then you can decide for yourself.

 

[acal]

we did a long-haul trip 2.5 weeks ago and were concerned about exactly this. A thing of disinfecting wipes solved the issue, trivially.
Before picking up the handle, you just wipe it down, and use the wipe to hold it with while you plug it in. solved, without any real extra fuss.

 

[Gardyloo]

Sounds good to me. This virus is said to be a wimp so it takes little to do it in.