The new school year has started in many states, which means kids are likely bringing back homework and projects each day, but it turns out they are bringing back something else – germs.
- A new Clorox study conducted swab tests with parents of school-aged children to discover just how many germs kids bring back to the home.
- Turns out, the clothes your kids wear to school are one of the biggest suppliers of germs, with a swab test showing they are 28 times germier than the average toilet seat.
- Not only that, their backpacks are 31-times germier than the average cellphones.
- And it certainly sounds like they are tracking those germs in the house.
- The average couch winds up as germy as a dog’s tennis boll, and with twice as many germs as a fridge door/handle.
- Plus, hard surfaces like TV remotes, gaming controls and more, are 26-times germier than the average bathroom doorknob.
An accompanying survey finds:
- 69% of parents worry about their kids bringing germs home from school.
- 54% expect that will lead to their kids getting sick.
- 54% of parents are worried their kid will have to stay home because they are sick.
- 38% of moms say they are stressed about their kids going back to school, compared to only 24% of dads.
- In fact dads are more likely than mom to say they are happy about their kid being back in school (67% vs. 39%).
Source: Clorox