Why it may be harder to catch COVID-19 from surfaces than we first thought

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A man wearing a face mask walks by a closed children playground at Lincoln Park amid the coronavirus pandemic in Los Angeles on July 1. (Etienne Laurent/EPA/Shutterstock)

(Adam Miller, Lauren Pelley/ CBC News) — Disinfecting groceries, wiping down packages, cordoning off playgrounds.

While those approaches to avoiding COVID-19 infection became commonplace early on in the pandemic, the virus may not transmit as easily on surfaces as was originally thought — and experts say it may be time to shift our focus on how we protect ourselves.

To date, there have been “no specific reports” of COVID-19 directly from contact with contaminated surfaces, even though research consistently shows the virus can survive on them for several hours or days, the World Health Organization said on Thursday.

The update was part of a new scientific brief released by the UN agency outlining its stance on how COVID-19 spreads, after an open letter from more than 200 experts to change its messaging on the possibility it transmits through the air. (…)

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