A team of scientists found that coronavirus survives on surfaces for hours. Experts say the spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S. is inevitable.
Researchers from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), CDC, UCLA and Princeton University revealed that the coronavirus lasts for several hours to days in aerosols and on surfaces.
Published in The New England Journal of Medicine, the text "Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1" showed that coronavirus could persist in aerosols for up to three hours.
Results also show that the virus can last up to four hours on copper and up to 24 hours on cardboard. Moreover, it can stay up to two to three days on stainless steel and plastic.
The study presents key information about the stability of SARS-CoV-2, which leads to COVID-19 disease. With this, NIH states that "people may acquire the virus through the air and after touching contaminated objects."
The findings were based on 10 experimental conditions involving SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 in different environmental conditions: aerosols, plastic, stainless steel, copper, and cardboard.
"The NIH study attempted to mimic virus being deposited from an infected person onto everyday surfaces in a household or hospital setting, such as through coughing or touching objects. The scientists then investigated how long the virus remained infectious on these surfaces," NIH wrote.
Other observations
According to NIH, the other important observations from the study are:
- "People infected with SARS-CoV-2 might be spreading virus without recognizing, or prior to recognizing, symptoms.
- In contrast to SARS-CoV-1, most secondary cases of virus transmission of SARS-CoV-2 appear to be occurring in community settings rather than healthcare settings. However, healthcare settings are also vulnerable to the introduction and spread of SARS-CoV-2, and the stability of SARS-CoV-2 in aerosols and on surfaces likely contributes to transmission of the virus in healthcare settings."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released precautions for the public to observe. These include washing the hands often, avoid touching one's face, avoiding close contact with people who are sick, wearing face masks, and disinfecting surfaces.
