Will handling cash put you at risk for the coronavirus?

Find a penny, pick it up. All day long, you'll have good luck. So goes the old superstition that luck can pass from one person to another, through a simple coin. But as the coronavirus sweeps the globe, found currency might not be so lucky after all.

Anyone who has ever wondered where, exactly, their money has been before it found its way into their pockets or purses might be feeling more germophobic than usual lately. That's because coins, and their paper cousins, are notoriously dirty under the best scenario. But there's both good news and bad for those looking to minimize their risk.

"Coronavirus is not likely to make money dirtier than usual," says Dr. Danielle Ompad, an infectious disease epidemiologist and associate professor at New York University's School of Global Public Health.

The U.S. government has procedures in place for currency that has been contaminated due to exposure to mold-forming liquids, sewage, certain chemicals, tear gas, bioterrorists agents and "exposure to blood, urine, feces or any other bodily fluids, including removal from any body cavity, corpse or animal," according to the Federal Reserve. Contaminated currency was so common after the flooding caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita that the Fed issued special guidelines, and separate parcels, for exchanging it, lest it contaminate other currency en route.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/will-handling-cash-put-you-at-risk-for-the-coronavirus/ar-BB11gF4C?li=BBnb7Kz