At a time when there’s intense focus on the spread of COVID-19 and ways in which its spread can be reduced, there’s been a lot of attention on different surfaces and how those surfaces can retain and potentially spread the virus. Since paper and card stocks are physical mediums, they’ve come under the spotlight, with concerns expressed about whether people can catch Coronavirus simply by touching them. Industry association Two Sides North America therefore took the lead and researched the facts relating to COVID-19 transmission through paper and cardboard surfaces.
The facts. Research and guidance from the world’s leading health organizations, including the World Health Organization (WHO), The Journal of Hospital Infection, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, suggests that the risks relating to COVID-19 transmission from surfaces is relatively low. According to an interview with World Health Organization officials, “The likelihood of an infected person contaminating commercial goods is low, and the risk of catching the virus that causes COVID-19 from a package that has been moved, traveled and exposed to different conditions and temperate, is also low.” (1)
The most referenced scientific research on the subject of surface rate of infection is from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), UCLA, and Princeton University, which studied how stable the Coronavirus was on different surfaces. The research revealed that of plastic, stainless steel and cardboard, the virus lasted the longest on plastic (up to 72 hours) and the shortest on cardboard (up to 24 hours) (2). That time is shortened when a surface is exposed to air, with the virus becoming less and less potent the more it’s exposed. The printing process will also decrease the potency of virtually any virus.
“Newspapers are pretty sterile because of the way they’re printed and the process they’ve been through,” said George Lomonossoff, a Virologist at the John Innes Centre in the UK. “Traditionally, people have eaten fish and chips out of them for that very reason. So all of the ink and the print makes them actually quite sterile. The chances of being infected are infinitesimal.” (3)
Addressing the concerns. Aside from the manufacturing conditions of paper (plus the printing and distribution processes significantly decreasing the amount of viable particles required to infect someone), the material itself is not a good location for the virus to exist. The researchers found that the Coronavirus lasts longest on smooth, non-porous surfaces such as plastic. Since paper and cardboard are porous, they carry the lowest potency for the shortest period of time (2). “There’ll undoubtedly be more research on the relationship between COVID-19 and surfaces in the months and years to come,” said Two Sides North America. “Understanding this pandemic is vital if we’re to avoid a repeat of its devastating consequences. But also vital is addressing the concerns surrounding its spread, and we’ll work hard to keep everyone updated on the latest research on paper and card.”
Sources:
- International News Media Association (INMA), 2020.
- Aerosol and Surface Stability of HCoV-19 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to SARS-CoV-1, 2020.
- Interview with BBC Radio Scotland, March 2020.
