CDC guidelines were updated last month to clarify the ways the COVID-19 virus is believed to be spread. Even though the virus spreads easiest through person-to-person contact, Summit County officials say people should still be mindful of their contact with hard surfaces.
Constant hand-washing and wiping down shared surfaces has become a regular part of daily life since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. Summit County Health Director Rich Bullough said that early in the pandemic, the CDC believed the virus could live up to three days on a hard surface.
Last month, an update to the CDC’s “How COVID-19 Spreads” webpage clarified the virus, in fact, does not spread easily through touching a contaminated object. However, experts still warned that this does not mean people should stop taking common-sense measures to help slow the spread of the disease.
Bullough added that early studies did not paint a complete picture of how the virus behaves.
“What those studies didn’t disclose, or didn’t make clear, was the fact that the amount of the virus decreases rapidly," he said. "In fact, after 72 hours on a hard surface, only roughly one percent of the original virus that was on that surface was alive.”
Bullough also worries about what he calls “viral load,” which is how much of the virus a person comes into contact with on a daily basis. He explained that this is why restrictions on bringing reusable bags into grocery stores are not likely to ease up anytime soon with store workers being at a particularly high risk of infection.
“If I’m that individual bagging behind the counter, I don’t want to be picking up multiple bags throughout the day," he added. "While those bags may not have live viruses on them in significant amounts, it’s all about viral load. It’s all about the amount of virus that an individual is exposed to.”
Bullough says the virus still spreads easily through direct person-to-person contact and mask wearing in public is still a necessity in order to protect the people around us.
