Did the CDC change its assessment of the risk of contracting the coronavirus from contaminated surfaces?
Saturday, May 23, 2020
By Eric Smith
Copy link
Copy featured image
NO
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention continues to advise that frequently touched surfaces be regularly disinfected to protect against infection by the coronavirus.
The virus is primarily spread "through respiratory droplets produced when an infected person coughs, sneezes, or talks," the CDC says. Surfaces or objects "are not thought to be the main ways the virus spreads."
Some news reports in mid-May, after the CDC revised portions of the web page presenting this advice, reported that the advice had changed. Archived pages from late March contain the same wording.
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTOR
Between 2020 and 2022, under close editorial supervision, Gigafact contracted a group of freelance writers and editors to test the concepts for fact briefs and provide inputs to our software development process. We call this effort Gigafact Foundry. Over the course of these two years, Gigafact Foundry writers published over 1500 fact briefs in response to claims they found online. Their important work forms the basis of Gigafact formats and editorial guidelines, and is available to the public on Gigafact.org. Readers should be aware that while there is still a lot of relevant information to be found, not all fact briefs produced by Gigafact Foundry reflect Gigafact's current methods and standards for fact briefs. If you come across any that you feel are out of date and need to be looked at with fresh eyes, don't hesitate to contact us at support@gigafact.org.
FACT BRIEF BY
