New York Governor warns public bus, train users, claims COVID-19 lives up to 72 hours
New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo, has warned public bus and train users in the state against the deadly Covid-19.
While disclosing this in New York City on Monday April 27, 2020, Cuomo stated that the coronavirus has the survival chances of living for 72 hours on surfaces commonly used on the state’s buses and trains.
He said, “The virus can live up to 72 hours on plastic surfaces and stainless steel surfaces. Just think about this from a transit point of view or from your car point of view.”
He added that “It can live on a vinyl car seat for up to 72 hours. It can also live on a pole in a bus or on a seat in a bus for up to 72 hours.”
He further explained that the virus can as well exist within the air for up to 3 hours, increasing its difficulty to avoid.
“When they were talking about droplets, I thought it was a droplet and then it falls, right? It’s a droplet that can hang in the air for three hours,” Cuomo explained.
Cuomo’s explaination is similar to the conclusions of a March study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) which found out that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can live on surfaces outside the human body for up to three days.
NIH Researchers tested the extent of existence of coronavirus on stainless steel, copper, cardboard and plastic.
Their conclusions were that the virus lasted the least amount of time in aerosols, living for up to three hours, followed by copper, where the virus lasted up to four hours.
On cardboard, the virus was found to last up to 24 hours, with plastic and stainless steel providing the longest life for the virus, at two to three days.
