Daily US Times: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday said that risk of transmission of Covid-19 from surfaces is low. CDC warns that far more important is airborne transmission — and people who obsessively disinfect surfaces may be doing more harm than good.
Vincent Hill, Chief of the Waterborne Disease Prevention Branch, said on a CDC-sponsored telephone briefing: “CDC determined that the risk of surface transmission is low, and secondary to the primary routes of virus transmission through direct contact droplets and aerosols.”
Hill said the risk of transmission of Covid-19 from touching a surface, while small, is elevated indoors, adding that outdoors, the sun and other factors can destroy viruses.
The virus dies “rapidly” on porous surfaces but can persist longer on hard, indoor surfaces, according to CDC.
Research also suggested that surface transmission of the coronavirus was more likely in the first 24 hours after a person is infected by the disease and that households where one person had infected by the virus did have lower transmission rates when the household cleaned and disinfected surfaces.
So, the CDC said, while keeping surfaces clean isn’t a waste of time, it’s not the only way or even the most important way to reduce risks.
The CDC updated its guidance for disinfecting and cleaning surfaces in community settings in light of this transmission risk.
Hill said cleaning should be focused on high-contact areas such as light switches and doorknobs.
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