The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirms what scientists have been saying for some time: The risk of contracting the Coronavirus from coming into contact with contaminated surfaces is minimal. This is in a new directive.
At the beginning of the Corona pandemic, we were still confused about whether or not to disinfect vegetables, fruits and foodstuffs in plastic containers or even parcels from China. After all, according to controlled laboratory research, the virus managed to survive on plastic, copper, and stainless steel for several days after it got there through large droplets of saliva from infected people. After all, touching these common surfaces – called “fomites” in the language of the virus – and then your mouth or nose can make you sick.
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At the beginning of the Corona pandemic, we were still confused about whether or not to disinfect vegetables, fruits and foodstuffs in plastic containers or even parcels from China. After all, according to controlled laboratory research, the virus managed to survive on plastic, copper, and stainless steel for several days after it got there through large droplets of saliva from infected people. After all, touching these common surfaces – called “fomites” in the language of the virus – and then your mouth or nose can make you sick. Even today, based on what we know about other infectious diseases, supermarket shopping trolleys and office bottle desks are completely disinfected and we enter our bank card code with an ear stick. But it now appears that the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 by touching an infected surface or object is not impossible, but it is very small, less than 1 in 10,000, according to the American Centers. (CDC). This is more true outdoors where the sun and other factors can destroy the virus. Therefore, the CDC has revised guidelines related to decontamination. It turns out that the frequent disinfection of seats on public transport, offices, doorknobs, and tables is not based on scientific evidence. It is the first time that the CDC has communicated clearly about this. Can bottles containing often unsanitary chemical disinfectants be kept locked and switched on, and can the food industry better spend money on other items with the goal of opening the stands? In theory, it’s not impossible to get sick through contact transfer, but then many things have to go wrong at the same time. For example, a large amount of infectious new viral particles must land on the surface, and then a very large number of these particles must be rapidly transferred to a person’s hands, which eventually touches their face. It is enough to counteract the already low risk of the surface moving anyway, the CDC said. Moreover, you are actually protecting yourself by maintaining good hand hygiene. Because the latter remains important in this epidemic, in addition to wearing a mouth maker, maintaining distance and minimizing close contacts. Regular hand washing is an important measure to combat other pathogens, but the American Center recommends disinfection of a certain indoor area if a person has had a suspected or confirmed COVID-19 virus within the past 24 hours. The new guideline does not apply to health facilities that require more intensive cleaning. After a year of all sorts of purging protocols, the public is now accustomed to the practice. So it doesn’t look like it’s going to go away anytime soon. It is a visual action that provides a sense of security. Moreover, cross-surface contamination cannot be completely excluded. But instead of cleaning surfaces, the focus today should shift to indoor air quality through ventilation and air filtration in schools, experts say. Over the past year, it has become increasingly apparent that SARS-CoV-2’s primary pathway transmission occurs mainly through the air, through large and small droplets. This also explains the so-called ‘super-propagation events’. Germany, the Netherlands and Wallonia are investing in ventilation, and Flanders is still lagging behind. However, the Supreme Health Council also stresses the importance of good ventilation of the interior areas, especially when more infectious variants of the Coronavirus spread. The Supreme Atomic Energy Commission said: “The importance of aerosols in the spread of the Corona virus is no longer in dispute.” “ When a person stays in a poorly ventilated room with an infected person for a longer period of time, the chance of contracting infection increases dramatically, even when physical distance is respected. Conclusion: The seven golden rules for preventing Corona infection are: washing hands, maintaining distance, limiting contacts, preferring outdoor activities, thinking about people at risk, following the rules about meetings and good ventilation.
