Cash bears stigma amid concerns over COVID-19 spread
BEIRUT — In troubled times, people have been known to hoard currency at home — a financial security blanket against deep uncertainty. But in this crisis, things are different. This time cash itself, passed from hand to hand across neighborhoods, cities and societies just like the novel coronavirus, is a source of suspicion rather than reassurance.
No longer a thing to be shoved mindlessly into a pocket, tucked into a worn wallet or thrown casually on a kitchen counter, money’s status has changed during the virus era — perhaps irrevocably. The pandemic has also reawakened the debate about the continued viability of what has been the physical lifeblood of global economies: paper money and coins.
From the supermarkets of the United States and Japan to the shantytowns of Africa to the gas stations of Tehran, a growing number of businesses and individuals worldwide have stopped using banknotes in fear that physical currency, handled by tens of thousands of people over their useful life, could be a vector for the spreading coronavirus.
Public officials and health experts have said that the risk of transferring the virus from person to person through the use of money is minimal.
Still, in the midst of the coronavirus era, a thousand calculations are made before cash is handled — mostly with gloved hands. Some leave the money laid out on surfaces for days, for the virus to die. Others disinfect banknotes with spray. Some even microwave them in the belief it kills the virus. In China, banks are now required to sterilize cash with ultraviolet light or heat.
“In many areas, cash was already beginning to disappear due the increased risk of robbery, the ease of internet ordering, and the ubiquity of cellphones,” said Zachary Cohle, an assistant professor at the department of economics at Quinnipiac University.
But is ditching cash altogether even feasible? Humans have a centuriesold emotional relationship with physical money that is difficult to erase.
For some in the younger generation, paying with cash is a status symbol.
Since the virus outbreak, however, shops that remained open have posted signs encouraging people to pay with cards. According to Germany’s central bank, the Bundesbank, 43 percent of people have changed their payment behavior in the past few weeks; now, a large percentage likely are to make payments with a card.
Japan, for its sophisticated reputation, also is a solid believer in cash. But the threat of the coronavirus could be the impetus the nation needed to move toward going cashless.
“The culture is slowly changing,” said Hiroki Maruyama, who heads the Fintech Association of Japan, a nonprofit.
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said “cash combined with courage in a crisis is priceless.” And in crisis-hit countries and parts of the world gripped by conflict or inflation, cash still is carried in thick wads for shopping trips.
In Lebanon, as the economic situation deteriorated late last year and the fear of banks collapsing mounted, many people began saving cash in their homes. and the sale of home safes surged.
As banks imposed capital controls, trips to the bank to withdraw foreign currency — followed by a trip to one of the exchange shops to change money on the black market — became the norm.
“I wear gloves. But honestly? Corona is the last thing on people’s minds right now,” said a money changer in Beirut who asked to be identified by his first name, Ihsan, fearing unwanted attention from authorities.
Dorothy Harpool, a director and lecturer at Wichita State University’s W. Frank Barton School of Business, predicted the pandemic would lead some consumers to rethink their use of cash. But going completely cashless, she says, is a long way off.
“Until everyone and every country has reliable access to the internet, I do not believe the pandemic will singularly change past practices,” Harpool said. In particular, cash transactions are also likely to remain for businesses operating under the radar of government and other regulatory bodies.
Ihsan, the Beirut money changer, said there are certain things you just can’t do without cash.
“Like how else can you bribe a government employee to get your business done?” he said. “With a credit card?”