The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday there is no significant risk of catching the coronavirus from a surface or object.
The CDC clarified its position in an indicative update that people generally contract COVID-19 through direct contact with a sick person or by airborne transmission.
“People may be infected by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects (fomites), but the risk is generally considered low,” the revised guide states.
The official review was done almost a year after the agency noted last May that COVID-19 “does not spread easily” across surfaces or objects that touch.
Earlier, at the start of the pandemic last March, the agency had warned that “it may be possible” to transmit the error from contaminated surfaces.
That initial guide caused the MTA to shut down the subway system overnight and use disinfectants to clean all surfaces of stations and trains.
MTA President Pat Foye was then accused by Brooklyn City Councilman Brad Lander of performing “hygiene theater” with an extreme clean-up regime.
The CDC now says disinfectants are not even needed in most situations and that simple cleaning agents seem effective against the virus.
“There is little scientific support for the routine use of disinfectants in community settings, whether indoor or outdoor,” to prevent spread across surfaces, the CDC said.
“In most situations, cleaning surfaces with soap or detergent and not disinfecting is enough to reduce the risk.”
The new guidelines were introduced by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the CDC, during a White House coronavirus briefing Monday.
He said some cleaning methods, such as fog, fumigation and electrostatic spraying, are not recommended as the main method of disinfection and pose safety risks.
Case reports have shown that the virus can be transmitted when a person touches their nose, mouth, or eyes after touching something that an infected person has recently coughed or sneezed.
But, the CDC noted, studies have found that the risk of catching the error across a surface is generally less than 1 in 10,000.