The risk of contracting coronavirus by touching a contaminated surface or object is “low”, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said on Monday, updating its guidelines on cleaning and disinfecting everyday household surfaces.
According to the latest development by the CDC, there is a less than 1-in-10,000 chance of contracting Covid-19 from surfaces.
“People can be affected with the virus that causes COVID-19 through contact with contaminated surfaces and objects,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, said at a White House briefing on Monday.
“However, evidence has demonstrated that the risk by this route of infection of transmission is actually low,” she added.
Linsey Marr, an airborne virus expert at Virginia Tech, who told The Times, “Finally, we’ve known this for a long time, and yet people are still focusing so much on surface cleaning.” Marr even goes on to say that there is “really no evidence that anyone has ever gotten COVID-19 by touching a contaminated surface.”
When the coronavirus pandemic first gripped the world last year, several experts warned that the infection could spread via surfaces. The agency said that touching contaminated surfaces and then touching your face, eyes or mouth could lead to the spread of Covid-19.
Soon after, shelves in grocery stores across the US were wiped clean of cleaning products. However, in May last year, the CDC clarified that surface transmission was the not main way that the virus spreads.