The deadly coronavirus germs do not appear to spread through surfaces such as light switches, door handles, and tabletops. At the beginning of the pandemic, experts thought touching surfaces then touching your mouth or face could increase the risk of becoming infected. However, now experts from the University of California report “the surface issue has essentially gone away”.
Professor of medicine Monica Ghandi said the virus left on a surface is not strong enough to infect and make a person ill.
Speaking to Nautilus, a science website, she said: “It’s not spread through surfaces.
“There was a lot of fear at the beginning of the pandemic about fomite transmission.
“We now know the root of the spread is not from touching surfaces and touching your eye.
“It’s from being close to someone spewing virus from their nose and mouth, without in most cases knowing they are doing so.”
Professor Gandhi added that face masks can block the virus.
She said: “The droplets cannot get through the fibres.”
She added: “The easiest way to contract the virus is to be exposed to someone else’s mouth and nose secretions.”
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But Mr Goldman has now concluded the laboratory tests bore “little resemblance to real-life scenarios”.
He has now suggested the coronavirus traces found in his study did not present “viably” infectious samples.
Now an increasing number of scientists are suggesting that the risk of contaminated surfaces was overplayed at the beginning of the pandemic.
Scientists are now saying that much more emphasis should have been placed on the wearing of face masks early in the pandemic.
