Thanks! Very very interesting. Required reading for all, multiply times by whatever factor seems prudent (I’d go with at least 5x to be cautious.)
I’d note that the results were under unusual (lab) conditions: Low humidity with air blowing over the samples to dry them.
So, relative humidity likely plays a role, and dampness (rain wetted clothing) would too. I wonder also, what about sweat?
I suppose this might have ramifications for advanced mask designs, esp. for health care providers.
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In general, drying seems to “kill” the virus. Would virus particles stay alive long if in aerosolized (very tiny) droplets in a normal or low humidity room? It seems like those would dry very quickly.
ASs far as materials comparisons, cotton looks like it is all over the place. (The jeans did well.) I’m guessing that might vary with processing and treatments, and that is likely true of other fibers as well. One could and perhaps should run their own crude tests of absorbency.
Question, questions...
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Going to the grocery store on a cool, damp rainy day sounds like a bad idea. Well, actually, we sorta knew that!
“Going to the grocery store on a cool, damp rainy day sounds like a bad idea. Well, actually, we sorta knew that!”
I recall a youtube where the guy showed a map of the world and the highest concentrations of CV. It was a fairly narrow band running from central china, through Italy, New York, Washington.
Then he showed a map of the average temperatures and humidity - it had a similar pattern. Just guessing, but something like 41 to 54 degrees F and humidity of 40 to 60%.
But then he took the data too far I think, and timed his grocery runs when temp/humidity was outside that range. Although there might be some rational to it.
Found the following paper on SARS which talks about temperature and humidity. It is above 95% humidity! I’m going to have to buy eight more humidifiers! Here in Seattle today on a drizzly damp day it is at 75%.
https://www.hindawi.com/journals/av/2011/734690/
The main route of transmission of SARS CoV infection is presumed to be respiratory droplets. However the virus is also detectable in other body fluids and excreta. The stability of the virus at different temperatures and relative humidity on smooth surfaces were studied. The dried virus on smooth surfaces retained its viability for over 5 days at temperatures of 22–25°C and relative humidity of 40–50%, that is, typical air-conditioned environments. However, virus viability was rapidly lost (>3 log10) at higher temperatures and higher relative humidity (e.g., 38°C, and relative humidity of >95%). The better stability of SARS coronavirus at low temperature and low humidity environment may facilitate its transmission in community in subtropical area (such as Hong Kong) during the spring and in air-conditioned environments. It may also explain why some Asian countries in tropical area (such as Malaysia, Indonesia or Thailand) with high temperature and high relative humidity environment did not have major community outbreaks of SARS.