COVID-19 Surface Persistence: A Recent Data Summary and Its Importance for Medical and Dental Settings

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Apr 30;17(9):3132. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17093132.

Abstract

Recently, due to the coronavirus pandemic, many guidelines and anti-contagion strategies continue to report unclear information about the persistence of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the environment. This certainly generates insecurity and fear in people, with an important psychological component that is not to be underestimated at this stage of the pandemic. The purpose of this article is to highlight all the sources currently present in the literature concerning the persistence of the different coronaviruses in the environment as well as in medical and dental settings. As this was a current study, there are still not many sources in the literature, and scientific strategies are moving towards therapy and diagnosis, rather than knowing the characteristics of the virus. Such an article could be an aid to summarize virus features and formulate new guidelines and anti-spread strategies.

Keywords: COVID-19; epidemiology; infection risk; surfaces; virus.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Betacoronavirus / physiology*
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / epidemiology*
  • Coronavirus Infections / transmission
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology*
  • Dental Offices
  • Environmental Microbiology*
  • Humans
  • Medical Office Buildings
  • Pandemics*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / epidemiology*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / transmission
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology*
  • Risk
  • SARS-CoV-2