WHO considers ‘airborne precautions’ for medical staff after study shows coronavirus can survive in air
New research out of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) finds that the novel coronavirus HCoV-19 (SARS-2) causing the COVID-19 pandemic can survive for days on plastic and stainless steel and even lasts up to a full day on a cardboard surface.
“We found that viable virus could be detected in aerosols up to 3 hours post aerosolization, up to 4 hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 2-3 days on plastic and stainless steel,” reads a new study posted online Friday.
In the wake of the global coronavirus pandemic, the Navy’s top officer and his most senior enlisted adviser took to social media and official online sites Saturday to calm the fleet and explain the unprecedented orders they’re instituting to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
The brief message — 74 seconds — addressed sweeping changes in how personnel and their families will travel and work over the next 60 days, including the suspension of official, personal and PCS travel inside the continental United States and to designated locations worldwide where the disease is entrenched in local populations; plus "flexible work schedules and the use of telework.
“Our understanding of the coronavirus is rapidly evolving, and we may have to implement further measures to combat the spread of this virus,” warned Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Michael Gilday.
“America depends upon us to help provide security and stability to this nation, and that’s exactly what we will continue to do.”