A report out of Wuhan suggests that the novel coronavirus may spread on shoes.
A study published by the Emerging Diseases Journal, posted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stated that COVID-19 virus can be tracked on floors as the virus droplets float to the ground, News4Jax reported Tuesday. But if there is any good news to this, it may be that the spread is most concentrated on medical wards where coronavirus patients are being treated.
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The study used a small sample – just two hospitals in Wuhan, China were involved and the report was done from February 19 – March 2. It showed that workers in both intensive care and general wards could inadvertently spread the virus by walking. The shoes of half the health professionals in the ICU wards tested positive for the virus.
Because of such a small sample, there’s no way to know whether the information is significant, although the study does suggest that health professionals working especially in the ICU should disinfect their shoes before leaving the units. Testing indicated the virus was present on floors, sickbed handrails, computer mice and trash cans.
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The novel coronavirus is easily transmitted through person to person contact and via surfaces but its unknown, aside from transmission via airborne particles, exactly how long the virus lives on surfaces. There are multiple and conflicting reports but the key takeaway is that the virus is highly contagious.
As of April, there have been almost 600,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus according to data by John Hopkins University. 25,000 people in the United States have lost their lives while that toll is over 125,000 worldwide and 2 million are known to be sick in total.
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