GERMS

The pandemic has made us extra cautious about cleanliness, and hotel rooms were a breeding ground for germ concerns even before it hit. So how clean are they now?

Has the pandemic changed how we look at germs forever?

This newest coronavirus, COVID-19, has been making headlines nonstop ever since it arrived in the United States. The virus has infected 110,000 people worldwide and killed around 3,900 — even though in the U.S., those numbers are much smaller, according to The Associated Press. There’s a lot to know about how to protect yourself from the coronavirus, but one of the most important things to know is how it spreads. The first infections were linked to a live animal market, but it’s now spreading from person to person, health officials said. The CDC recommends keeping infected and possibly infected people quarantined so that the virus can’t spread anymore.

Germs love to lurk in coffee machines. Ten Chicago-area families let CBS2 swab their one-cup coffee makers, and reporter Mary Kay Kleist took the samples to Loyola where experts tested them for germs.