New research, published by the New England Journal of Medicine a few days ago, reported experimental findings re. the viability on four types of surfaces of the corona virus that is causing the pandemic (SARS-CoV-2).
Shorter, friendlier description of research here:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/03/200317150116.htm
“New research finds that the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is stable for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces. Scientists found that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was detectable in aerosols for up to three hours*, up to four hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to two to three days on plastic and stainless steel.”
*This part of the sentence is misleading. According to the original article, linked below, the virus remained viable for the full duration of the experiment with aerosols, which was 3 hours.
The publication is here: https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
Under
experimental conditions, the virus lasted longer on plastic and stainless steel than it did on copper and cardboard.
SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard, and viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application to these surfaces.
On copper, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 4 hours.
On cardboard, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 24 hours.
They also conducted experiments with the related virus SARS-CoV-1, the one that caused “SARS” for comparison:
“We found that the stability of SARS-CoV-2 was similar to that of SARS-CoV-1 under the experimental circumstances tested. This indicates that differences in the epidemiologic characteristics of these viruses probably arise from other factors, including high viral loads in the upper respiratory tract and
the potential for persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 to shed and transmit the virus while asymptomatic.”
Thus, the great need for social distancing.
