In light of COVID-19, what does Corning advise to help keep the surfaces of our smartphone screens clean?
With the recent novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there has been concern about how long the virus can live on surfaces, specifically the surface on your smartphone display. Several health institutions, including the CDC, NIH and WHO, have suggested you follow the device manufacturer’s specific instructions for cleaning and disinfecting their particular products. Below highlights what has been published by two major device manufacturers:
- Apple has reported to “using a 70 percent isopropyl alcohol wipe or Clorox Disinfecting Wipes, you may gently wipe the exterior surfaces on your iPhone. Don’t use bleach. Avoid getting moisture in any openings, and don’t submerge your iPhone in any cleaning agents.”
- Samsung instructed to “use a disinfectant, such as a hypochlorous acid-based solution (containing 50-80ppm) or an alcohol-based solution (containing more than 70% ethanol or isopropyl alcohol). Do not apply these liquid solutions directly to your device, they should be carefully applied to a microfiber cloth instead … Avoid using cans of compressed air, as they may damage the surface of your device … Do not use spray bleach on your device.”
If no guidance is available from your manufacturer, NIH and CDC provided guidance to “use alcohol-based wipes or sprays containing at least 70% alcohol. Dry surface thoroughly.”
However, each mobile device with Corning® Gorilla® Glass is designed differently. Manufacturers may apply a variety of additional coatings or treatments to their screen surfaces. Therefore, to prevent any potential damage to your screen from disinfectant materials, Corning suggests you contact your device manufacturer directly.
FAQs
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Can Corning make a suggestion for how to safely clean my device? Many consumers are nervous given the current environment with COVID-19.
We understand consumers’ concern around ensuring their devices are properly cleaned given the current COVID-19 pandemic. However, while we’d like to provide specific guidance to ease consumer’s minds – the reality is that after Gorilla Glass is manufactured – it is sent to a finishing partner who adds the appropriate coatings and surface treatments requested by the OEM customer. As a result, it is difficult for us to speculate on what the appropriate disinfecting treatment is for a specific device as we’ve been designed on billions of devices over the last decade. We suggest that specific questions on cleaning smartphones and tablets are directed at device manufacturers, who can provide more details on the recommended cleaning products for their devices as product specifications, especially coatings and water resistance, can vary.
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Can Corning’s antimicrobial glass help prevent the spread of illness and viruses such COVID-19.
Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass is formulated with antimicrobial properties to help protect touch surfaces from odor- and stain- causing bacteria, but Corning makes no direct or implied public health claims or that our product will protect users.
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Can I find devices with Antimicrobal Corning® Gorilla® Glass on your website?
Antimicrobial Corning® Gorilla® Glass is featured on several of Acer’s laptops & other tablet and medical display devices. For some of the latest listing of devices/glass types that we’re able to confirm, please click here.
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I’ve read that Corning inserts silver into the glass to form its solution. Will silver protect us from viruses and bacteria?
Antimicrobial Corning® Gorilla® Glass is produced by incorporating silver ions as the antimicrobial agent into the glass. Trace amounts of silver ions leach to the glass surface to reduce microbes. We have not tested Antimicrobial Corning® Gorilla® Glass against COVID-19, and typically silver antimicrobial agents have different levels of effectiveness against bacteria as compared to viruses, accordingly, Corning makes no claim that Antimicrobial Corning Gorilla Glass will protect users. That said, Antimicrobial Corning® Gorilla® Glass is registered with the U.S. EPA. It has also shown a consistent [3 log (>99.9%)] microbial reduction rate under the Japanese standard JIS Z 2801 test protocol.
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Is silver safe?
Yes. Silver is safe for consumer use and is used in many industries. Silver is commonly used in coins, jewelry and eating utensils (silverware) but more importantly, if it were not safe the EPA would not have allowed us to register the product.
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Is Corning currently working with any OEMs on immediate adoption? With COVID-19 outbreak, are you revitalizing your efforts in this area?
Our Antimicrobial Corning® Gorilla® Glass technology is an exciting opportunity and we are working with customers that are interested in this technology.
We received EPA registration for our antimicrobial technology. However, we have not tested our Antimicrobial Gorilla Glass with COVID-19, and Corning makes no direct or implied public health claims or that our product will protect users.
