Rabies through indirect object/scratches?

[WhyIsItAllSoSpooky]

I'll keep this short because I want to make it concise -- I work on a farm and the TL;DR of it is that I was closing tobacco sheds earlier this evening when my sister and her friend (who were also closing the sheds) had an encounter with a bat that flew at them that may or may not have been rabid, I don't know. That being said, we closed up all 3 big sheds but I used my bare hands to pick up where they left off without knowledge that a bat had been there flying at them recently. I have a scratch, probably from the wood or something else farm related on my forearm and I'm not sure if the virus could've done something. I did not see any bat at all.

Can you get rabies through surfaces, specifically scratchy wood and metal?

Thank you.

[.Poppy.]

No, you cannot. You would have to be bitten, and if a bat had bitten you, you would absolutely know it. They also aren't usually aggressive, so the bat that was flying at them was most likely just chasing bugs and not after them to bite anyway.

I know rabies is scary, but it's exceedingly rare (even in the US) and you cannot get it in the way you describe.