The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday that there is no significant risk of catching the coronavirus on a surface or object.
The CDC clarified its position in a guidance update that people generally contracted COVID-19 through direct contact with a sick person or by air transmission.
“People may be infected through contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered low,” the revised guide states.
The official review came almost a year after the agency noted in May last year that COVID-19 “does not spread easily” by touching surfaces or objects.
Prior to that, at the beginning of the March pandemic last year, the agency warned that “it may be possible” to transmit the bug on contaminated surfaces.
This initial orientation led the MTA to shut down the subway system overnight and use disinfectants to clean every surface of stations and trains.
Pat Foye, the president of the MTA, was then accused by Brooklyn City Councilor Brad Lander of performing “hygiene theater” with extreme cleanliness.
The CDC now says disinfectants are not even needed in most situations and that simple cleaning agents appear to be effective against the virus.
“There is little scientific support for the routine use of disinfectants in the community, either indoors or outdoors,” to prevent surface spread, the CDC said.
“In most cases, cleaning surfaces with soap or detergent and not disinfecting is enough to reduce the risk.”
The new guidelines were introduced by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the CDC, during a White House briefing on the coronavirus on Monday.
She said that some cleaning methods, such as fog, fumigation and electrostatic spraying, are not recommended as the main method of disinfection and present safety risks.
Case reports have shown that the virus can be transmitted when a person touches their nose, mouth or eyes after touching something that an infected person has recently coughed or sneezed.
But, the CDC noted, studies have found that the risk of catching a bug on an area is generally less than 1 in 10,000.