“The number you’ll hear from most people is from a few days up to a week,” he said. “But the context in which the virus is found outside the body matters a great deal. How long can it last on a doorknob? We don’t have a lot of raw data, believe it or not.”
For your reference, I will repost this link again.
The survival of filoviruses in liquids, on solid substrates and in a dynamic aerosol
These low infectious dose reports suggest that if the initial viral titre is high, infectious quantities of viable virus could be recovered from samples stored at +4°C for periods of up to 46 days in liquid media, and from samples dried onto glass at both 26 and 50 days.
How many urban settings fall below 39ºF during the winter months? How many fall well below freezing during extended periods? How will they clean up contamination in public locations? How will they know where there is contamination? The one scenario I foresee is an infected patient taking public transit to the hospital. On the way there, they throw up at the bus or train station. They may even throw up outside a hospital. How are we going to deal with that type of contamination?
This appears to be the most informative study done to date. There results indicate the virus actually survives very well when the temperatures are low enough and very little natural UV light is available. They may as well be describing any northern city from November to April.
We need to stop all travel from infected regions by freezing the visas. The United States is far worse off than Africa for survival of the virus on contaminated surfaces.
I remember that one from upthread. I was surprised to see the admission in the NYT, that's all. They did bury the statements but it's a sign of progress.