Take them off…..
People pick up dirt, germs, bacteria and other microbes on the soles of their shoes throughout the day, yet in a recent survey, only 30% of respondents stated they always took their shoes off in the house. In 2015, Bissell Homecare conducted a study which showed three in five (62 percent) of people don’t always wipe their shoes off after coming inside, 52 percent would eat food that had dropped on carpet or a rug, and around 49 percent wouldn’t think to clean a baby pacifier or bottle after dropping it on carpet.
It seems it would be a good general practice to remove shoes in the house and ask guests to do the same. Perhaps more so now given the findings of a study conducted in Wuhan, China during the current coronavirus pandemic and published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. Researchers found in some cases at least 50% of healthcare workers carried coronavirus on the soles of their shoes. Whether you are a healthcare worker or not, If you are not going to sanitize your shoes, consider leaving them at the door. Footwear News has some great tips on sanitizing your shoes HERE as well as some shoe brands which lend themselves well to being sanitized HERE.