Any data on the fomite situation with omicron? Just concerned as itβs so transmissible and contagious.
My husband and I are double vaxxed and boosted, but still wonder if Iβm doing enough.
Please be nice, Iβm older and try to be as careful as possible.
We have been using masks and being careful about the air that we are exposed to. But whenever a new variant comes out, I wonder if we need to reconsider whether or not the virus might be spreading through other avenues as well.
I know that in the early days of the pandemic, doctors and scientists thought that the virus spread through fomites and were unsure about whether or not it spread through food. That suggests to me that in principle, coronavirus is can sometimes spread that way, even if the original COVID-19 coronavirus did not.
So, when the virus mutates, is it reasonable to suppose that it might have found ways to transmit through fomites or food? Or, more happily, is there some reason to think that the particular nature of the COVID-19 coronavirus means that this won't happen even after a significant mutation?
Thank you!
My husband is still incredibly concerned of the likelihood of getting Covid via fomite transmission - we still remove all our grocieries from packages and place them in reusable containers, freezer bags, etc. Almost no outside packages are allowed inside the home unless completely sanitized, etc.
I am looking for the science behind fomite transmission and covid-19 - how likely is it to catch covid via fomite transmission, how viable is the virus, etc?
Thank you.
I apologize in advance because I know this has been asked before, but I would just like some clarification if someone is willing to give it. I have read the [CDC update that came out earlier this year which detailed how the virus is spread primarily through respiratory droplets and not surface transmission, which said the chance was around 1 in 10,000 for every infected touch](https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/science-and-research/surface-transmission.html). After doing a little more digging though, I saw that [some of the studies tested outside objects, like traffic light buttons](https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00966). I'm wondering then, is the risk really considered that much higher without accounting for environmental factors like wind? The reason I ask is because I work at a grocery store that has basically done away with some of the early Covid safety precautions of last year. I go about my day touching self checkout screens, money, and even produce likely hundreds of times a day. I wash my hands frequently and use hand sanitizer a lot as well, but am I still putting people at risk?
Damien Contandriopoulos: The year public health lost its soul:
>Initial infection control measures implemented at the onset of the pandemic were drafted in the absence of strong evidence on transmission routes for the new coronavirus. ...emphasis was on fomite and respiratory droplets ... [which] ended up being misguided ...[but] most Western state-run public health bureaucracies β as well as international public health bodies such as the WHO β actively defended erroneous initial theories on COVID transmission long after it was rational to do so. Instead of working toward the development and communication of evidence-based COVID prevention strategies, public health institutions found themselves stonewalling and actively contradicting scientific developments
>few (if any) effective prevention measures β such as improved ventilation of indoor public spaces, advice on good masking techniques, limits on large indoor gatherings, etc.β were implemented.
>the COVID response symbiotically produced by political actors and public health institutions caused multiple disconnects:
- between the scientific evidence on COVID transmission and the public health sanctioned advice;
- between public health and governmental discourses prioritizing the wellbeing of the population and containment strategies focused mostly on economic indicators; and
- between inclusive discourses putting forward collective sacrifices for a common good and deeply inequitable interventions.
>More efforts seem to go in controlling the political spin and rationing the information made available than in trying to correct documented deficiencies ... it could be that fierce debates are taking place behind closed doors. But, in most jurisdictions there have been little to no place for open dissension
I know the obvious ones like towels clothes and bedding/sheets but was curious if furniture like a couch or pillows/cushions/mattress itself can get infected and retain the virus reinfecting the bedding or my family by any chance
Would love any anecdotes or learnings. Most resources donβt mention furniture but the usual sources above.
Is anyone aware of any findings (either anecdotal or actual studies) regarding whether or not thereβs a larger risk of transmission of Delta variant CV19 via fomites?
Iβve been incessantly ranting to friends, family and my building management for over a year that obsessing over cleaning surfaces is a misplaced priority for curbing the spread of the virus, and that wider usage of good masks with electrostatic media and education of proper usage would be more effective.
I remember that early studies of fomite transmission were criticized because they used concentrations of βparticlesβ that far exceeded real-world particle distributions on surfaces. But now that weβre hearing stories of people contracting the Delta variant simply by crossing paths with infected people over a period of a few seconds, Iβm wondering if we need to start being concerned about it again, due to the increased viral load of Delta is 1000x of the original strain?
What are the chances of passing HPV or genital warts to family members by sharing same bathroom and laundry machine or casual contact?
They probably would have done some contact tracing and maybe asking sick people to quarantine for a certain amount of time. Possibly a quarantine of the elderly and certainly more protections in place for nursing homes and LTCF's. A lot of awareness campaigns encouraging people to stay home if they have symptoms, and probably encouraging people to wear a mask. But if we knew how rare asymptomatic spread is (extremely rare, and even presymptomatic spread only accounts for a small number of cases, almost exclusively transmitted in the home), that it doesn't really spread through infected surfaces, etc. Combined with the sub 1% fatality rate, and a very clearly identified group of high-risk individuals, as well as improved treatments and therapies (vents were basically killing sick patients in the hospitals, probably why China, Italy, and NYC had such bad numbers at first)... if we knew all of that in February then the response would have been completely different.
What we're seeing now is a combination of sunk cost fallacy and goal post moving for political reasons. Some will lean further to one end of that scale than the other, depending on the person. But the people still advocating for strict restrictions on healthy people who have no reason to believe they are sick are motivated by one of those two factors, or a combination thereof. For the former group, they sacrificed a lot in order to "do their part" and stop the spread, and it's too painful to admit that it wasn't necessary or worth it after all. For the latter group, they want more authoritarianism, they want more socialism (UBI, M4A, etc) or they just want to keep driving it in how terribly they think Trump has handled the situation because they think it'll will hurt him in the election.
We have been using masks and being careful about the air that we are exposed to. But whenever a new variant comes out, I wonder if we need to reconsider whether or not the virus might be spreading through other avenues as well.
I know that in the early days of the pandemic, doctors and scientists thought that the virus spread through fomites and were unsure about whether or not it spread through food. That suggests to me that in principle, coronavirus is can sometimes spread that way, even if the original COVID-19 coronavirus did not.
So, when the virus mutates, is it reasonable to suppose that it might have found ways to transmit through fomites or food? Or, more happily, is there some reason to think that the particular nature of the COVID-19 coronavirus means that this won't happen even after a significant mutation?
Thank you!
We have been using masks and being careful about the air that we are exposed to. But whenever a new variant comes out, I wonder if we need to reconsider whether or not the virus might be spreading through other avenues as well.
I know that in the early days of the pandemic, doctors and scientists thought that the virus spread through fomites and were unsure about whether or not it spread through food. That suggests to me that in principle, coronavirus is can sometimes spread that way, even if the original COVID-19 coronavirus did not.
So, when the virus mutates, is it reasonable to suppose that it might have found ways to transmit through fomites or food? Or, more happily, is there some reason to think that the particular nature of the COVID-19 coronavirus means that this won't happen even after a significant mutation?
Thank you!
