COVID-19 And Paper
As the Coronavirus situation accelerates on a global scale with further lockdowns in multiple countries, travels restrictions, business shut downs and more, we have been busy looking further into how the COVID-19 behaves with regard to paper.
We are all discovering the behaviour and traits of this new virus and there are many theories and opinions being communicated on a daily basis. Therefore it is important to ensure what you read is from verified sources - at the very least know the sources of information so that it can be put into perspective.
We have made multiple enquiries and had discussions with some researchers and others in the medical field as to the key question being asked; “Can Coronavirus be transmitted via paper?”
It has not been easy to get a conclusive response as some people say the virus can survive on paper type surfaces for about a day, whilst others have quoted as much as five days.
What I do know is that major institutions such as the UK courts have asked that some paper forms should no longer be used to communicate information in court and therefore the information should be communicated verbally. Also some firms have put notes on packages being delivered to homes asking the receiver to wait for a number of hours or days before opening and touching the package as it has been pre-packed prior to postage.
One piece of information from ScienceDirect.com, which looked at the persistence of Coronavirus on different surfaces indicates that the virus can survive on paper for up to five days (source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0195670120300463).
We do of course urge you to be mindful of how you handle paper that has been sent to you personally or sent to your company or processes - particularly where the general public are sending in forms. Take appropriate precautions. If you are involved in low volume processing you may be at relatively lower risk than those that work in a high volume paper processing environment.
It has also been mentioned that the virus can be transmitted by passing pens from one person to another when completing forms or when a delivery person asks the customer to sign the delivery form on receipt.
Either way we urge you to review how you use paper and question if that is the only option. Where possible use paperless/digital alternatives, e.g. such as DocuSign if you have single forms you need people to sign; or SignTech Forms if you have a workflow form or process that needs to be completed and seamlessly, securely and privately integrated into your systems.
SignTech Forms has a great feature that allows users to include attachments of other documents, images, media (voice and video) as well as capturing the metadata and sending it directly to the receiving company with no information going through any third parties.
To help companies through these difficult times SignTech Forms are digitising high-risk/high volume forms for free. If you have such forms simply send them to expert@signtechforms.com and they will be digitised for you - please note that high-risk forms take priority and it is on a first come/first serve basis.
SignTech Forms is an innovative paperless platform that converts existing forms and documents into paperless forms that can be completed on mobile devices and electronically signed seamlessly (with full data integration). For more information visit www.signtechforms.com or email expert@signtechforms.com.