The phrase “community spread” sounds a bit misleading. It sounds like the virus is just out there floating around in the air, spreading like wildfire.

Most people haven’t, before the recent coronavirus hysteria, ever heard of community spread before.

The word fomite isn’t exactly popular or well known either but it’s a more accurate description of how COVID-19 could be spreading.

You’ve heard over the past week or so that a coronavirus patient got sick in California from community spread. It’s been defined by the CDC as a patient who hasn’t traveled to places where the virus is common and has no known exposure to anyone with COVID-19.

No known exposure. That means you are out in public and get infected but don’t know how or from whom. It’s possible that there was a sick person around you within a few feet and they coughed or sneezed and you got it directly from them without knowing it happened.

But it’s also possible that your infection came from fomite transmission.

A fomite is an inanimate object or substance that is capable of transmitting infectious organisms from on individual to another. Or one animal to another. It’s simply a nonliving object or material that can transmit infection.

Although a fomite is not the most common way to get COVID-19, it’s possible for a person to get a coronavirus by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes.

I learned about fomites during an animal rescue conference and it freaked me out. We were learning about cleaning protocol in animal shelters and the obvious statement was made that we should start by cleaning the cages of the healthy cats and dogs and then move onto the sick ones. You don’t want to spread any illnesses from the sick animals to the ones who are healthy. Makes sense. 

Then we talked about what things could be fomites and how easily diseases can be spread from room to room and from one animal to another. Basically, EVERYTHING is a fomite.

Some fomites are more obvious, some I hadn’t even thought about as I walked through the shelter. Your hands, your hair, your shoes, the broom handle, the mop handle, the button on the soap dispenser, towels, blankets, food dishes, transport carriers, your cell phone, and many more items.

Thinking about this fomite class that I had taken, I recently took a good look at all the fomites I was in contact with during a one day period. Kind of food for thought should an outbreak appear in my hometown. You might have more or less fomite contact than I do. Everyone is different and it’s going to depend on what your job is and what errands you run in the course of a day. 

During that day, I had the following fomite contacts: I touched the bathroom door handle at work, the toilet handle, the sink knobs, the light switch, the door to leave work, the counter at the credit union, the pen at the credit union, the money at the credit union, the receipt at the credit union, the cart at the grocery store, about 20 items at the grocery store, the pen and the buttons on the credit card machine at the grocery store, and five plastic bags at the grocery store. 

And that was a slow day where I didn’t do much. I have no idea who touched those things before me or if they have been to China recently.

Obviously, all of those things I mentioned can’t be sanitized every day all the time but some precautions can be taken. And we can all be vigilant with hand washing and disinfecting common fomite areas especially if we work somewhere with a lot of customers going in and out (schools, banks, hospitals, grocery stores, etc.) 

Most people don’t think about fomites on a daily basis which is why we have so many colds and flus happening in the United States. A silver lining in the coronavirus hysteria could be that more people don’t get the flu and other illnesses this year because people are actually washing their hands, staying home with they are sick and staying away from others who are sick.

I tried to research the surface life of the COVID-19 on the WHO and CDC websites but not much information is available. I’ve seen the phrase “a few hours” in some news stories about how long the virus might live on an inanimate object but I’m more apt to believe the analysis of 22 earlier studies of similar coronaviruses including SARS and MERS that was published this month in the Journal of Hospital Infection. 

Their study concluded that a human coronavirus can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass or plastic for up to nine days at room temperature. Various surfaces showed different times of persistence (life) but the high end was nine days. The good news is, according to the Journal of Hospital Infection report, that the virus appears to be quickly rendered inactive if you use common disinfectants. 

Just like a lot of other information about COVID-19, we aren’t 100% sure about anything. And the study makes it clear that we don’t know if the new coronavirus acts in the same way as the others but I think it’s a good place to start by looking at past studies about the lifespan of other coronaviruses on different surfaces.

So, once again, wash your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer, try not to touch too many things while you are out in public and when you are work and wipe down common services with disinfectants. 

As Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”