Guard Your Space with a Germ Free Bee

If you’ve ever gotten off a flight to discover you’ve developed a nasty cold just a day or two later, your mind probably immediately went to the hours you spent breathing recycled air surrounded by strangers. For the germ-wary travelers who’d like to bypass all the colds they can, there’s the Germ Free Bee, created by a State Department and White House employee and frequent business traveler.

Germ Free Bee looks like a blanket, but acts as a barrier between you and the various surfaces in a plane that often go without being sanitized until the end of the day. It hooks snuggly around your headrest, comes around the armrests and even under the seatbelt, and is equipped with wings to wrap around your body. Why the wings? According to Germ Free Bee, airlines are under no regulation to wash or clean the blankets they hand out during flights, leaving passengers exposed to a world of contagious illnesses. The large wings act as a personal blanket, while also ensuring you’re not in contact with the rest of the seat.

A portion of proceeds from each Germ Free Bee sold is donated to Fisher House Foundation Hero Miles, which provides free flights to service members and relatives of service members being treated at veterans and military medical centers.