Posted on: Sun 19-04-2020

A report released recently from the Center for Disease Control and published in the agency’s Emerging Infectious Diseases journal now shows that the corona virus can be carried around on peoples shoes and can also travel 13 feet through the air

 

The airborne distance is more than twice the recommended social distancing guidelines to stay 6 feet away from others.

 

The study team tested air and surface samples at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China, to detect the distribution of the coronavirus that causes the disease known as COVID-19. They found that the contamination was on floors, computer mice, trash cans, sickbed handrails and doorknobs, and it was higher in intensive care units than in the general hospital wards.

 

“The extremely fast transmission capability of [coronavirus] has aroused concern about its various transmission routes,” according to the report, which was conducted by the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in Beijing.

 

Between Feb. 19 and March 2, the study authors collected samples by swabbing objects that might be contaminated. They also sampled indoor air and the air outlets. The intensive care unit had 15 patients with severe disease, and the general ward had 25 patients with mild disease.

 

Overall, they reported, the samples that tested positive for the virus were concentrated in the contaminated areas, particularly in the ICU. The floor swabs also had a high rate of positive tests, potentially due to virus droplets falling on the ground. Half of the ICU staff’s shoes also tested positive.

 

“In addition, as medical staff walk around the ward, the virus can be tracked all over the floor, as indicated by the 100% rate of positivity from the floor in the pharmacy, where there were no patients,” the authors wrote.

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