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October 12, 2020: Coronavirus can linger on some surfaces for 28 days, including phone screens, paper money and stainless steel, according to a new study published in the Journal of Virology.
The study also found that the virus survived longer at lower temperatures and tended to last longer on smooth or non-porous surfaces like glass and stainless steel rather than porous or rough surfaces like cotton.
“Establishing how long the virus remains viable on surfaces allows us to more accurately predict and mitigate its spread and better protect our people,” said Larry Marshall, executive director of Australia’s national scientific agency CSIRO, in a statement.
Around a room temperature of 68 degrees Fahrenheit, the coronavirus could last 28 days on smooth surfaces. At higher temperatures, survival time decreased as temperature increased, and in cotton, the virus was not detectable after 14 days.
However, the study was conducted in the dark to eliminate the effect of ultraviolet light, which can inactivate the virus. That means laboratory conditions may not match the real world. Items were also not touched, but phone screens and bills often move, which could eliminate the virus.
“What we’re seeing empirically, clinically, with contact tracing, is that COVID isn’t spreading much through touch,” Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, told CTV News.
“It is possible to contract the virus through surfaces,” he said. “But it doesn’t happen very often.”
Furthermore, the study evaluated how long the virus lasts on surfaces, but not how long the virus particles are actually infectious. Influenza A, for example, has been found to survive on surfaces for 17 days, but a virus begins to break down once it leaves the host’s body.
“How long [a virus] can survive and remain infectious depends on the type of virus, the amount, the surface, the environmental conditions and how it is deposited, for example, the touch in front of the droplets emitted by the cough, “said Trevor Drew, director of the Australian Center for Preparation for Illnesses, in the declaration.
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