Contracting Covid from surfaces very unlikely.

It's now exceedingly clear : Much of our fear of catching Covid from plastic, paper, steel and other surfaces was triggered by flawed research.

The Favoured Route

There's little evidence that surface transmission is a common route the virus takes to infect. The main way it's spread is by air, either by larger droplets via close contact or by smaller droplets called aerosols.

* People not distancing and talking loudly without masks inside a closed room are more of a threat than a doorknob.

* This is why it's important to wash hands and not surfaces.

By the end of 2020, global sales of surface disinfectant was at $4.5 billion, a jump of more than 30% over the previous year.

Scary Study Had 'Ideal Conditions For Virus'

Last year, studies said the virus stays on surfaces for hours. And in October, an Australian study said particles can survive "almost a month" on surfaces. But this test had flaws.

The research used so many unrealistic conditions to favour the virus's survival. They kept samples in the dark to spare it from light that kills the virus. They used optimal temperature and humidity. Their samples also included thousands and thousands of virus particles, when research on influenza indicates that coughs or sneezes emit something in the range of 10 to 100 virus particles in a droplet.

The Australian lab study set off a torrent of alarming headlines with many going on to claim banknotes, glass surfaces were sources of risk.

What Real-World Research Found

In Israel, experts swabbed belongings, furniture in isolation units and a quarantine hotel. Half the samples from two hospitals and more than one-third of samples from the hotel were positive for viral RNA. But none of the viral material was able to infect cells.

So What Does This Mean?

* The new analyses say surface transmission is rare but not absolutely impossible.

* Such transmission events also assume one has licked fingers soon after touching a contaminated surface.

* It also means we should spend less on disinfectants and improve ventilation.

- Emanuel Goldman Microbiology Professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, quoted in a media report. (Goldman was also among the first to support use of face masks).

Tailpiece.

Got up at 6, the chores, initiated the washing machinex of bed linen and was ready by a quarter to 10.