New Study Dismisses Spread of Coronavirus Through Surface Contamination
Dashing previous guidelines, findings of the new study finds low likelihood of Coronavirus spreading through surface contamination.
The outbreak of coronavirus in December 2019 caught us all unaware and unprepared. Initial recommendations issued by health experts pointed contaminated surfaces as a major source of transmission of the coronavirus.
But a new study conducted by University of California researchers confirmed reduced likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 spread through contamination of surfaces. The findings of the study are published in the June 24 issue of the journal PLOS ONE.
For the purpose of the study, a team of researchers led by Angela Haczku, a respiratory immunologist at the University of California’s Davis Medical Center collected multiple samples of COVID from surfaces both during the first COVID wave in April 2020 and the later in second wave in August 2020. Samples from HVAC filters in the hospital were also taken during the same time.
The sample swabs were tested to check presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA.
But despite a significant increase in number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients during the second wave, Haczku and his team could discover infection in only 2 per cent of the swabs collected in the second wave in August 2020 as compared to 11 per cent of the swabs testing positive during the first wave of COVID-19 in April 2020.
