The CDC, the center for infectious disease prevention, has always warned that it is “possible” to get a coronavirus infection by touching contaminated surfaces or objects. But he now claims that it “does not spread easily” via surfaces contaminated with Covid-19. This can be read on one of the pages of the website of the main American public health agency, which has been updated recently.
For those of you who are wiping their groceries and other packages in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, you might push a “phew” of relief.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which together form the largest public health agency in the United States, now say the new virus “does not spread easily” from “affected surfaces or objects” .
But American experts warn that this does not mean that it is no longer necessary to take “practical and realistic” precautions to stop the spread of Covid-19.
A recent change to the guidelines on the CDC website
Although it is not known exactly when, the US federal public health agency appears to have recently changed its guidelines from the beginning of March which stated quite roughly that “it may be possible” to contract the virus from contaminated surfaces, says.
The CDC therefore now includes “surfaces or objects” in a section which details the means by which the coronavirus “is not easily transmitted”. In this section, the agency indicates that the virus is not easily transmitted by other means such as from animal to human or from human to animal.
“Covid-19 is a new disease and we are still learning about how it spreads. Covid-19 may spread in other ways, but these are not thought to be the primary modes of spread of the virus “, according to the CDC.
The CDC, however, reminded American citizens that the virus is mainly spread from person to person, noting that the new coronavirus, “spreads easily and sustainably between people“.
This does not mean that we should stop washing our hands and disinfecting surfaces
The change comes after a preliminary study released in March suggested that the new coronavirus could stay in the air for up to three hours and live on surfaces like plastic and stainless steel for up to three days, which has prompted many people to wipe off their delivered shopping packages or other items, waiting for several hours on the wall before touching them.
The virus can be present without being infectious
However, at the time, the study had not yet been peer reviewed and it had not determined whether people could be infected by touching certain contaminated surfaces.
Dr. John Whyte, chief medical officer of the WebMD health website, told Fox News that the slight update to the CDC brings clarity and helps reduce fears.
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“Many people feared that by simply touching an object, they could catch the coronavirus, and this is simply not the case. Even if a virus can remain on a surface, it does not mean that it is actually infectious.“, specifies the doctor.
“I think this new guideline is helping people to better understand what increases and what does not increase the risk. This does not mean that we should stop washing our hands and disinfecting surfaces. But it allows us to be pragmatic and realistic as we try to find a sense of normalcy“, he added.
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