Our Story
One day in 2014, after seeing his kids not wash their hands at school before lunchtime, hookey Founder Rafi Yitzhaki started to think about the problem of germ transmission.
It wasn't until 2015 though that Rafi stumbled upon statistics from the CDC that showed the number of annual American child deaths from influenza was in the thousands, and the total deaths of all ages around the world exceeded 500,000. At that point, he knew he had to do something.
While researching the topic, Rafi realized that one of the primary methods of pathogen transmission was from surfaces such as door handles, elevator buttons and anything that hundreds or thousands of people can touch every day.
From that came the hookey.
The 2020 Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has shed light on and raised concerns about the transmission of disease. While COVID-19 has come to the forefront in our collective consciousness, the transmission of pathogens is by no means a new problem, nor one that will be gone any time soon.
What we've learned, if anything, is that to stop the spread of disease, a critical step is to reduce the ease of transmission, either person-to-person transmission or the acquisition of pathogens from the touching of infected surfaces. In this document, we'll focus on the latter. Door handles in particular, but also vending machines, elevator and ATM buttons, public toilet handles and other surfaces can be hotspots for the spread of pathogens. An examination of a door handle, for example, may show the presence of viruses such as influenza, meningitis, and norovirus; bacteria such as E. coli; and fungal infections.
Depending on the environment and pathogen, these germs can last on door handles or other surfaces for hours. It's estimated that the flu virus, for example, can last up to 24 hours on door handles. (Source: United Kingdom National Health Service.)
In the case of Coronavirus/COVID-19, the CDC recently found traces of COVID-19 on surfaces in the cabins of both symptomatic and asymptomatic infected passengers on a Diamond Princess cruise ship – 17 days after passengers had left the cabins. The best way to limit the spread of disease from touching surfaces and objects is to reduce or eliminate a person's need to touch the surface or to utilize a tool that can do it in their stead.
That's where the hookey comes in. The hookey is a device that people can use to open doors, push buttons and take other actions that would normally require them to use their hands. Simply described, it is a key chain on one end, and a large hook on the other end, designed to allow people to take certain actions without having to touch surfaces with their bare hands.
To be certain, the hookey is more than just a simple hook. It is a carefully designed device that allows for pushing, pulling, twisting, grabbing, holding or otherwise manipulating objects. It was designed with safety in mind, employing the right materials, including antimicrobial silicon to limit bacteria growth. This is not just a hook.
The solution is simple: limit the person-to-person transmission of pathogens as well as person-to-object-person pathogen transmission.
Sounds easy, right?
Well, stopping person-to-person transmission can be challenging, as we've seen during the COVID-19 pandemic, even with the severe disruptions to American work and life.
Pathogens can be found on elevator and ATM buttons, on any door handle, in public bathrooms and worst of all, even on surfaces that are meant specifically to keep hands clean: bathroom sinks and hot-air hand dryers.
hookey can be the solution to make an enormous dent in transmission-by object. It can fit in a pocket or a purse and be readily available for consumers to use in any situation.
hookey Patent # 10,036,415; Patent # D808,769
hoo(key) Serial No.: 88/935,296 - hookey - Serial No.: 88/935,302