(WSVN) - A new report from the Centers for Disease Control says COVID-19 can travel 13 feet and can be carried on people’s shoes.
The study was conducted from Feb. 19 through March 2, at Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China. Researchers took samples from the air and potentially contaminated objects in the intensive care unit and the general unit housing coronavirus patients.
According to the study’s findings, “the SARS-CoV-2 aerosol distribution characteristics in the [general unit] indicate that the transmission distance of SARS-CoV-2 might be 4 [meters]” or just slightly over 13 feet.
Scientists also said half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive for the virus, leading researchers to believe that the soles medical personnel shoes can function as a carrier of the virus.
“In addition, as medical staff walk around the ward, the virus can be tracked all over the floor, as indicated by the 100% rate of positivity from the floor in the pharmacy, where there were no patients. Furthermore, half of the samples from the soles of the ICU medical staff shoes tested positive,” study authors wrote. “Therefore, the soles of medical staff shoes might function as carriers.”
“The 3 weak positive results from the floor of dressing room 4 might also arise from these carriers,” researchers went on to say. “We highly recommend that persons disinfect shoe soles before walking out of wards containing COVID-19 patients.”
However, researchers noted their study had two limitations. “First, the results of the nucleic acid test do not indicate the amount of viable virus. Second, for the unknown minimal infectious dose, the aerosol transmission distance cannot be strictly determined,” they wrote.
The study concluded that by March 30, no staff at the hospital had been infected with the virus, indicating that appropriate precautions can effectively prevent infection.
To read the full study, click here.
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