You can use gloves and take off them after shopping. In fact it is mandatory requirement for customers in Poland to wear gloves in shops. It is strongly suggested to wash hands after arriving home anyway. My point is that hand hygiene is quite easy in most situations. Hand hygiene is essential also in cashless society. Your hands are naturally IP57 protected, so wash them often.
You're correct that there are many things to pay attention to. My feeling is why not avoid as many situations as possible? Using Google/Apple Pay at a terminal is one situation where you can avoid touching surfaces that many other people touch. The problem with debit cards is they typically require a PIN which defeats the purpose. On the other hand my credit card does not require a PIN so I use it at terminals that don't offer Google Pay.
Do you disinfect or wash your smartphone often? Do you limit touching your smartphone in home? Do you wash hands after touching your smartphone? BTW My smartphone has not been designed to meet IP57 certification demands, which makes me concerned about washing it often. I sometimes clean it with soap with very small amount of water, but I don't like to do it. Every time I do it I have a feeling I may break it.
Probably not often enough, but at least I'm the only person who touches it. By the way, I think individually wrapped alcohol pads are safer for smartphone cleaning. See here: https://www.consumerreports.org/smartphones/how-to-sanitize-your-smartphone/
Cash? Credit cards? Ew! Contactless payments, please. April 30, 2020 https://www.androidauthority.com/coronavirus-causes-uptick-in-contactless-payments-1113484/
Cash payments plummet thanks to pandemic The only question surrounding the long-term decline of cash is whether recent cliff drops are temporary or permanent June 7, 2020 https://www.zdnet.com/article/cash-payments-plummet-thanks-to-pandemic/
What Australia can learn from Sweden's move to a cashless society https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06...m-swedens-move-to-a-cashless-society/12282764
DCBank backs ‘reverse ATMs’ that turn cash into prepaid Mastercards June 12, 2020 https://www.nfcw.com/2020/06/12/366...atm-that-turns-cash-into-prepaid-mastercards/
Brits get used to life without cash June 12, 2020 https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252484583/Brits-get-used-to-life-without-cash
The major problem with "cashless" is that things like Google Pay are great "IF" the system stays up and running. In a general upheaval or economic bust then bank credit will be close to worthless. Not going all the way to pure "barter" only, but half way means using Gold, Crypto, & ammunition as currency. I stock all of these and if things continue to run I enjoy using them all anyway. Not rich by any means, but I believe in all three of my assumed value stock items.
The (near) cashless society arrives June 29, 2020 https://www.axios.com/cashless-society-coronavirus-455e0045-1160-4240-8fe1-c888a40630cb.html
Eventually merchants are going to raise prices then costs are going to be paid be consumers. Banks will have more money, information and power. Elderly people often do not have any debit or credit cards too.
Norway has lowest physical cash use in the world, says report ...according to a study by its central bank November 11, 2020 https://www.computerweekly.com/news...st-physical-cash-use-in-the-world-says-report
Around 7 out 10 people worldwide earn less than $10 daily, so probably not https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...n-people-globally-live-on-10-or-less-per-day/
Law to ban cash for purchases of $10,000 or more abandoned, but don't be surprised if it's revived https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-12...-dollars-abandoned-amid-covid-crisis/12951720
Microsoft founder Bill Gates praises India’s cashless economy approach December 8, 2020 https://news.thewindowsclub.com/mic...ises-indias-cashless-economy-approach-104361/
I see some advantages to it in terms of health-wise. However, there are also some disadvantages such as outages.
What It’s Like To Live in a Cashless Society In Sweden most people don’t carry cash anymore and in China, even panhandlers have QR codes for donations. January 13, 2021 https://www.vice.com/en/article/93w...a-sweden-korea-wechat-alipay-swish-samsungpay
COVID-19 rarely spreads through surfaces. So why are we still deep cleaning? Coronavirus is in the air — there’s too much focus on surfaces
Banks and other financial institutions would love if cash would indeed be a main route for SARS-CoV-2 transmission, but scientific evidence strikes again. This paper written by Greenhalgh, Trisha, et al. and published by The Lancet Journal states clearly that main source of transmission are infectious aerosols. Not surfaces. Not even large respiratory droplets. Aerosols. Ten Scientific Reasons in Support of Airborne Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 If you are concerned of being infected then practice physical distancing - be at least 6 feet (1,8 m) away from other people, avoid crowded places, wear a good quality face mask in indoor settings etc You may want to disinfect/wash hands getting home, but cash and surfaces should not be of greatest concern.