1. What would be my risk of exposure in a situation like this, where I keep me mouth away from the mouthpiece?
Low beyond words!
2. Could I have contracted herpes?
perhaps with a one in a million chance, or even less. I really don’t think so at all
3. How long does the herpes virus live on surfaces like telephones, particularly when a person has a cold sore?
short times because IF she rubbed her cold sore on the phone, she probably did it unintentionally and did not leave much virus. Then that virus get cold and starts to die – it’s cold and it has no human cells in which to replicate and it is also dry. All bad for the virus.
I think you are just fine in this situation.
Terri