MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – When the pandemic started, stores quickly ran out of napkins and household cleaners.
But now experts say the risk of catching COVID-19 on surfaces is low.
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Suppose your keys are contaminated with COVID. You may catch the virus by touching it in front of you, but officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say it’s rare.
WCCO spoke with Dr. Frank Rhame, an infectious disease specialist at Abbott Northwestern who is part of Allina Health.
“It has become increasingly clear that air droplets make up the bulk of transmissions,” Rhame said.
For perspective, the CDC says studies estimate that every time you touch a contaminated surface, your chances of getting infected are less than one in 10,000. Which is why it is now said that it should be sufficient to clean high-touch surfaces once a day with regular soap or cleanser.
(credit: CBS)
“Now, if you look at those guidelines, it doesn’t say that the surfaces don’t make any difference,” Rhame said. “It is said that they are not as important and that for most surfaces, standard soap and water once a day are good enough.”
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Remember when some of us wiped our food? Maybe you’re still – but do you need to?
“I wouldn’t usually do it,” Rhame said.
Whether it’s your food or something else in your home, the CDC says disinfection is probably not necessary unless there is a suspicious or known exposure or case. In fact, it warns against the use of disinfectants for hard surfaces, such as bleach, on plastic or cardboard food packaging.
“That thing hasn’t been touched in a while by someone who might have COVID,” Rhame said.
But COVID precautions help reduce other things, like the flu. Doctors don’t know if distancing, washing hands, masking or disinfecting are the ones that help the most – but our efforts protect against more than COVID-19.
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The CDC says the most reliable way to prevent surface infection is to wash your hands regularly or use hand sanitizer. And you may want to clean more or disinfect if someone in your home is at high risk.