The Copper Glove Renaissance | Should Essential Workers Wear Gloves

I published an article in early March 2020 about how we could avoid viruses and bacteria by using copper gloves at the gym and outlined how copper can ward off germs and bacteria. Since then, the world we know has changed, gyms have been shut down in the country, and there’s no telling when they will reopen at full capacity.

The primary focus of my previous article was how to avoid contact with germs from gym equipment. The article has gotten an overwhelming and shocking response. I noticed that many people bought our copper antimicrobial gloves to personally protect themselves from viruses and germs. We realized that these copper gloves are perfect for everyday use and serve more of a purpose than just being a set of gloves that you can use at the gym.

I applaud and respect all our essential workers in the trenches doing their best to serve us while taking immeasurable risks. When you visit essential businesses, like grocery stores and gas stations, you will notice that only some of the workers are wearing some form of hand protection such as disposable gloves or fabric gloves (which we assume that they are washing at the end of each workday).

There’s absolutely no way to really tell what many workers’ hands have come into contact with and how often in the day there are replacing their soiled gloves.

Some businesses are not requiring the use of gloves, which could be an issue if workers are handling food and products barehanded that we either consume or bring into our homes.

For example, I was shopping at my local Winco grocery store and noticed that the cashiers were not wearing masks or hand protection. With the flood of shoppers that pour into the stores each day and the amount of people that the cashiers interact with, it defies all common sense not to be wearing gloves when handling people’s food and touching cash!

Being apprehensive about this situation, I elected to proceed to a self-checkout option, but was ejected for having over 15 items. When politely trying to express my concern about the lack of protection the cashiers had, she threatened to call security. I can empathize and understand the heightened stress and tension that grocery store workers are currently enduring, but it should never take a back seat to public safety.

Long story short, I ended up negotiating with a friendly cashier and she agreed to not touch my items. I don’t think it will be long until most of the companies realize that they need to adapt to the circumstances and take necessary precautions to protect their staff and customers.

It dawned on me that the copper gloves that we sell could be just as suitable for essential workers as they are for gym patrons.

Why Should The Gloves Be Copper?

When exploring the various forms of hand protection, one of the first things you will notice is that none of them are 100% proven to block or completely prevent the spread of disease. The popular choice in this pandemic is disposable gloves made from a porous material. Doctors and nurses are required to use many pairs of disposable gloves during their shifts, which is appropriate for a medical setting, but not everyday life.

Dr. Amesh Adalja mentions that:

“Latex gloves can rip very easily. They’re not designed for going out, running upstairs, doing things in daily life. They’re not very durable when it comes to pumping gas or anything … They’re going to get holes. They’re not meant for wearing during activities and daily living. Even as a physician, I have my gloves rip all the time.”

Our copper-infused gloves are perfect for everyday use. They are durable and even scissor proof, so they are extremely hard or next to impossible to rip.

Another feature is that our copper gloves are machine washable and can be reused every day, thereby eliminating the need to scour pharmacies and hardware stores for boxes of disposable gloves that are currently sold out everywhere.

Do Copper Gloves Kill Viruses and Bacteria?

Try and calculate how many objects and things you touch outside of your home every day. I can’t even begin to count the things that I touch in just an hour, let only throughout an entire day.

Now, think about how many packages and letters your neighborhood mailman touches daily. According to the bureau of labor statistics and some extensive calculations, the answer is 1611 parcels each day on average! Mail workers are essential front line workers that require protective gloves. All it would take is skin contact with one of the 1611 parcels to spread or contract a virus.

By wearing Copper compression gloves, essential workers can minimize exposure to germ and microbe infested surfaces. A study conducted by British scientist Bill Keevil discovered that copper alloys destroy infectious diseases and that it is possible that copper gloves can kill bacteria in the first 30-40 minutes of contact  with the copper nylon fabric that the gloves are constructed from.

How Long Can The Coronavirus Live On Surfaces

Essential workers come into contact with surfaces all day. It’s necessary in order to perform certain duties correctly and it is impossible to completely avoid contact with everyday objects. Here are some of the updated studies concerning the lifespan of coronavirus on various surfaces.

Jobs That Can Benefit From The Use Of Copper Gloves

According to the list of essential workers outlined by the government, the following types of workers can use copper compression gloves to aid them with daily tasks.

Healthcare

• Security workers
• Mortuary and cemetery workers
• Caregivers
• Laboratory personnel
• Manufacturer workers

Public Safety

• Military Personnel
• Law Enforcement
• Fire Fighters
• Ambulance EMTs

Food and Agriculture

• Meat processing facilities
• Restaurant carry-out operations
• Farmers
• Food delivery drivers

Transportation

• Transit workers
• Rideshare drivers (i.e. Uber & Lyft)
• Truck drivers

Volunteers & Help Services

• Social service workers (such as those helping the homeless)
• Animal Shelters
• Food drives and donations

Delivery Services

• Amazon workers
• Mail couriers

These jobs and many others are critical and having protective hand-wear that’s durable, accessible, and reusable is critical to keeping everyone healthy.

How Copper Gloves Improve Your Health

Throughout history, copper has been used for multiple health purposes. This goes back to Egyptian times when Babylonian soldiers would sharpen their weapons with copper and then use the leftover particles to fill in wounds inflicted during the battle in order to stop the infection and heal it rapidly. We are fighting a battle today where copper would be helpful.

Copper is overlooked by most, but it is a vital nutrient for our bodies. When combined with iron, it helps the body form red blood cells. Copper plays a role in maintaining healthy bones, blood vessels, nerves, and immune functions.

Recent evidence supports the assertion that copper can have a very positive effect on immune functions and disease resistance. There have been higher mortality rates observed in copper-deficient subjects vs subjects with balanced copper levels.

So how do we get copper into our system? We consume small amounts of copper through eating produce that is grown in copper-rich soil. We also get copper from seafood and nuts. Conveniently, copper can be absorbed through our skin by wearing copper compression gloves and forms of copper jewelry.

Are You Buying Real Copper Gloves?

The market is flooded with copper compression gloves, including many cheap knockoffs claiming to be copper infused. Unfortunately, the industry has spawned a host of imitators selling gloves that have NO COPPER at all. This can be problematic for the consumer, especially during these times, because it can give them a false sense of security because they will think they are wearing authentic copper gloves.

Wearing copper gloves does not make you invincible or 100% immune to viruses and bacteria, but they certainly are a very good start to slowing the spread of the coronavirus.

Who you buy from can be just as important as what you buy, Our virus preventing copper gloves have been tested and validated by the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC). This organization has been serving the textile industry for nearly 100 years. They have laboratories that can measure the antimicrobial effectiveness of copper compression gloves against bacteria and viruses.

You can see that our gloves have been spot on when it comes to blocking viruses. We provide this report freely, but less reputable companies will fail to provide this report. Don’t waste your money on untested copper compression gloves.

How To Be Extra Careful When Removing Copper Gloves When Finished With Work

The copper glove is the best barrier between your hands and surfaces, but you should be very meticulous when removing your gloves after finishing tasks and activities. The idea when taking your gloves off is to avoid as much skin to glove contact as possible and to wash your hands with soap and water immediately after removal.

Play By Play On How To Remove Contaminated Copper Gloves.

1. Grasp the outside of one glove at the wrist. (Do not touch any bare skin!)
2. Peel the glove away from your body, pulling it inside out.
3. Hold the glove you just removed in your gloved hand.
4. Peel off the second glove by putting your fingers inside the glove at the top of your wrist.
5. Turn the second glove inside out while pulling it away from your body, leaving the first glove inside the second glove (try not to bunch them up too tightly) and place them onto a napkin or tissue.
6. Wash your hands immediately with soap and water for 30 seconds.
7. Retrieve and unravel the gloves by only touching and using the tissue.
8. Later, place the gloves in your washing machine and wash under a warm setting with detergent.

You do not have to worry about contaminated gloves or clothing mixing in with the rest of the laundry load. The CDC’s website instructs you to not shake and mix your garments together because the virus may spread, but the warm water will kill all viruses.

Our copper gloves are 100% machine washable and, as indicated by the results from the AATCC, after 5 washing cycles very minimal copper is lost during cleaning.

Final Thoughts

Copper hand protection can be a very practical solution to keep you safe during everyday activities. Additionally, they are one of the only anti-viral gym gloves on the market today. As we all know, we need to be scrupulous in our efforts to avoid touching surfaces and stop the spread of this virus.

Circling back to my experience, it’s an outright shame that some grocery stores have not faced up to reality and protected their customers and workers by requiring all cashiers and staff to wear gloves when handling our food.

Thousands of grocery store employees in this country continue to work and get exposed to the herds of shoppers every day. While some grocery chains like Walmart and Kroger have promised masks, gloves, and sanitizers for their staff, WinCo has, in my opinion, blown it big time  due to the absence of this equipment at their stores. From trying to reason with a disgruntled cashier to escalating my concerns to a regional department, they have failed to act on this public health and safety concern and left me with a copy and paste email response.

I think that you will agree that if there is a highly contagious airborne disease spreading exponentially, when the entire community is crammed into a single store it’s very risky not to be wearing gloves.

I wish there was another way to fetch my groceries. I’m grateful that I can buy groceries, but many families are going without meals during these times. On behalf of Spectral Body, we will be donating proceeds from the sale of our copper gloves to buy meals for people in need by supporting threesquare.org.

Every pair of copper gloves sold will help put meals on the table for a family in need.

I urge everyone to be safe, stop the spread, and get behind this movement. Please share this article with every essential worker that you know.