We can't really trust people's feet not having fungus. And it's really damn hard getting rid of it once you get it. That's just on the top of my head. And I do hope people do wash their hands regularly, especially when they visit the toilets, before eating or touching their face - I most certainly do, even before the pandemic. But I certainly haven't seen this bare foot co-worker wash their feet, not even once during the whole day. This would accumulate to much bigger trouble. And going barefoot to the toilet (where most man also leave piss on the floor around - yeah, I know, my co-workers were NASTY and having a uni sex toilet didn't help) and after that putting your feet on the desk...... I couldn't begin to compare this to going to the toilet, washing your hands and touching the desk. When you come to think about it, you can definitely go places.

Do you wash the soles of your shoes several times per day? They touch the same surfaces... And more...

What do you even mean? Shoes do come off you know. People tend to put their bare feet on a lot more places than they would put their feet in shoes. At least our colleague did - he put them on desks, kitchen tables, coffee room tables, sofas. Usually when you wear shoes, you take them off first at least before you do the same thing. I am not happy seeing people's feet on tables per se, but it's much less pleasant to see a bare walking person coming out of the toilets doing it.

Putting your feet on desks and tables is just bad manners and gross. Equally so for shoes and bare feet. Someone who has been to the toilets (or anywhere else) has the same stuff on their soles , feet or shoes.... The difference is only perception

Not saying bareffot at the office should be the new norm, but there are plenty of mistakes in your comment. (I'm Hardly ever walking barefoot unfortunately) 1. It's much less likely to have fungus when you regularly walk barefoot, because it's the moisture in shoes that's bad for the skin and endangers it to have fungus bloom 2. Look up some statistics about how often you tough your face. Not a study, but mark Rober (youtube) set a camera on himself and tried not to tough his face with all his will for 1hour while doing some desk work - and after reviewing the footage he still touched it 16 times. Noone washes there hands 16 times an hour. 3.your shoes are 100% as unsenatary as feet when it comes to smear infection / spreading germs from 1 place to another and you don't mind that either do you? On the contrary, feet most likely get washed at least once a day, shoe soles don't. 4. We are not made to live in a clean world and nothing is clean.

So you haven't come home to your babysitter's old sweaty fungi bare feet prints on the tile floor and a few months later taking your crawling kid to its pediatrician to ask them why it has some blue-greenish nails? Putting medicine on them for too goddamn long time over the years? No? Just me? OK then. I prefer my people wearing shoes and slippers, or at least socks, thank you very much.