(upbeat music)
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- Is that a library book?
- Yeah, Why?
- Haven't you been watching the news lately?
It's got coronavirus all over it.
Here, I'll take care of that for you.
You're welcome, I just saved your life actually.
- The world has lost its freaking mind
and you know that it's lost its mind
when you're seeing people microwaving
their library books to kill the coronavirus.
And it's pretty bad when CNN, a reputable news source
releases a piece, that's a public service announcement
that it states specifically,
"Stop microwaving your books
to get rid of the Corona virus."
Now, don't be confused.
This isn't like that rejected project
over on Shark Tank called rocket book,
which you know, ended up taking off pretty well.
No pun intended with rocket book.
- The microwave safe notebook.
- Hey, you know, that is a microwaveable book,
but that's a different case.
It's not like you're trying to kill
any kind of germs or viruses on this one.
It's the intent of that.
You're supposed to do that on that.
Well, according to the Kent District Library
in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
they'd actually have some books turned into them
to where it looked like pretty much someone
had set fire to the inside of the pages.
well, because technically the actually did set fire to it.
The reason is they would open up the book,
you can see the little metal badge
that helps them kind of track their book
and you know, check it in, check it out such like that.
People didn't account for that
when they toss that library book
into a microwave to kill off any of the germs
or viruses that were on it.
And essentially they set fire to the stinking book,
thereby kind of almost destroying,
defacing the specific book.
And that's despite having a 72-hour
quarantine on these books.
In other words, as soon as it's checked out,
is brought back in,
they actually isolate all of these books for 72 hours.
And this is actually something that was recommended
by the Centers for Disease Control.
- What do libraries know
about infectious diseases anyways, Dale?
- Well, I'm glad you asked Gail.
In fact, actually, David Berendes, the CDC epidemiologist
actually said this, "You don't have to really worry
about finding ways to disinfect those materials.
The virus, if it's present, would be present
in very low quantities and would die off pretty quickly."
Now before you go and start to tell me
that you shouldn't believe everything on the internet
and that's a good point.
Actually, I decided to go ahead
and call in a favor from a friend, a retired virologists
and prolific horror novelists Thomas A. Bradley.
And Thomas has actually been
a longtime supporter of this channel.
And I knew for a while
that actually he was a lifelong virologist
and he was chomping at the bit
to share just a little bit of information.
So I've got him on speed dial here, Gail.
So Thomas, should we be microwaving our books
to kill the Corona virus?
- No, there's really no reason for that.
I understand that people are concerned
and very nervous about especially infecting
the elderly if they....
but there's no reason to microwave a book.
- Hello, Mr. Virologist, what if I use Lysol on the books?
- Oh, absolutely not.
But first of all, you're going to make the ink bleed.
And if these are library books,
as what's been being reported in the news lately,
they're not going to be very happy
that you have to wear bifocals
to try to put the letters back together again.
If you're really, really, really scared about the virus,
it would be okay maybe to take a 10% bleach solution,
one a rag and just wipe the outside cover.
But even that is not going to be necessary.
Your chances of being infected by a borrowed library book,
especially if they're following their CDC protocols
of leaving it isolated for 72 hours,
the viruses are gonna be desiccated and dead,
which is a euphemism
because viruses aren't alive to begin with.
No, there's no real reason to do that.
- What if I use my mask and my goggles
and some of my gloves will that work?
- Again no, unless you're reading a scratch and sniff book
and you're going to put your face right in it,
(sniffing)
not necessary.
- What are the chances of getting infected
by the coronavirus from a book?
- Without trying to get too technical,
these viruses are what they call an envelope virus,
which means it divides its outer shell
from our cell membranes.
They dry out very easily.
So the chances of being infected by a virus particle
that's been trapped in a page on a book
is gonna be very, very low.
- Are the CDC guidelines
as well as the 72-hour quarantine of books
when they come back to the libraries,
is that sufficient?
- According to all the studies that I have read,
and I've been keeping up, even though I'm retired,
but a 72-hour quarantine is more than sufficient.
As with everything else if you notice,
take a jar of peanut butter off your shelf
and it'll say best if used by.
And that date will usually be three to four months
before it actually expires.
It's what we call a window of safety
before safety hazards where they'd call the shelf life
much shorter than what it is.
So a 72-hour period is definitely
a safe window for this virus.
- Hey, are you lizard people?
Are you, I know you're lizard people.
- No, I'm not really lizard people.
I can't be bothered with conspiracies.
I mean I just...
If I listened to everybody's theories,
I could spend months on Facebook
arguing with so many different people.
It's just, it's just not worth my time to chase my tail.
No lizard jokes intended there.
- Oh, Gail thanks for ruining my library book,
I really appreciate that
despite the fact that it was just fine.
- You're welcome.
Speaking of library, not too long ago
as shared just a little bit about the internet archives
and how they were seemingly pirating books,
through library systems, in fact actually
you gonna check it out in this next video right here.
And you're gonna be pretty blown away
at what's happening with the internet archives.
I'll see you there.
- Yes, all right I'm sophisticated yeah.