According to tests run by the United States government, the coronavirus can live on some surfaces for up to three days, and it can linger in the air for several hours. The virus can be spread in several ways: through the air, by touching things that were contaminated by someone who is infected, and by direct person-to-person contact.
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To conduct the study, researchers from the National Institutes of Health, Princeton University and the University of California, Los Angeles released samples of the virus into the air using a nebulizer device, to imitate what would happen if the virus was airborne, which would be the case if an infected person coughed into the air around them. They found that the virus could be detected in the air up to three hours later. On copper, the virus remained for up to four hours; on cardboard, it remained for 24 hours; on plastic and stainless steel it remained for two to three days.
As of Thursday, March 12th around 10am EDT, the coronavirus had infected 127,175 people and killed 4,731. In the United States, 1,004 had been infected and 31 had died.
Across the country, music festivals, conferences and other events requiring the gathering of large groups of people are being cancelled or postponed. On Wednesday, March 11th, President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would suspend all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days. After a Utah Jazz player tested positive for the virus, the NBA announced that the season would be suspended, and NCAA officials announced that March Madness games would be played without fans watching from the stands.
To learn about how to protect yourself from the coronavirus and other pathogens through healthy nutrition, read this article. If you need a quick refresher on how to properly wash your hands to kill germs, click here.