It’s time to turn off the sanitizing robots and store the bottles of Clorox that seem to line up the entrances of all schools, restaurants and supermarkets that wish to advertise their safety protocols. While such protocols can reassure an anxious population, they are not needed, says a revised guidance issued on Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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“It is possible for people to be infected by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered low,” says the new CDC guideline, estimating that the chance of contracting the coronavirus by superficial transmission is less than 1 in 10,000.
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A worker demonstrates how the seats will be cleaned in front of the foam fingers of the Bruins and the Celtics – showing where fans can sit – at TD Garden in Boston on March 24. (Jim Davis / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Coronavirus is spread almost exclusively by aerosolized and aerosol particles, as scientists have known for months. Despite scientists’ growing certainty about how the pathogen is transmitted, many establishments have continued to insist on strict sanitation protocols. In some school districts, for example, classrooms close for “thorough cleaning” throughout the day.
The persistence of such practices has led to the advent of an ironic term – “hygiene theater” – to describe rituals that seem to do little to prevent the spread of the virus. It is not clear whether the CDC’s new orientation will draw the curtain on these stagings, given how ingrained some of these practices have become.
“If we take half the effort that is being devoted to disinfection and put it in ventilation, it will be huge,” said University of Colorado atmospheric chemist Jose-Luis Jimenez, to the scientific publication Nature, in an article published last month.
The change in the understanding of the virus by scientists has made it difficult for public health experts and elected officials to offer consistent advice to the public.
For example, when the pandemic started, Americans were told that face masks were not necessary. This orientation was later changed, after it became clear that the masks prevented a sick person from spreading the disease. Even later, scientists recognized that the masks also protected the user.
The Biden government continued to ask people to wear masks, but months of confusion and contradiction have likely mitigated the impact of that message.
Science about fomites has followed a similar path. At first, the World Health Organization said that the coronavirus was not transmitted through the air, but transmitted mainly by “respiratory droplets and contact routes”, a misconception that has been criticized since it was made in March 2020.
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CDC director Rochelle Walensky speaks to the press in Boston on March 30. (Erin Clark-Pool / Getty Images)
It was at this time that the United States saw an increasing demand for heavy disinfectants that would kill any traces of viruses on a surface. But, as the researchers found, these traces are generally relatively small and find it difficult to find a new human host. In addition, simple cleaning agents appear to be effective against the virus, eliminating the need for more advanced (and expensive) disinfectants.
“In most situations, cleaning surfaces with soap or detergent, and not disinfecting, is enough to reduce the risk,” says the new guidance, which was presented by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, during a briefing on Monday of the White House COVID 19 response team.
The use of such disinfectants, says the CDC, is necessary only if a person known to be infected with the coronavirus has been within the space in question in the past 24 hours. But because it can be difficult for restaurants and other high-volume establishments to know if a customer is infected – a difficulty compounded by the shortage of rapid tests – it is likely that no matter how unnecessary and expensive these measures are, the theater of hygiene will go away.
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