It’s on everybody’s mind, to some extent, right now. If a surface is contaminated with the SARS-CoV-2virus, how long does it pose a risk of infection? The virus is thought to mainly spread through respiratory droplets. These are produced in a cloud when a person coughs or sneezes, or even talks. Some potentially-virus-laden droplets might end up getting breathed in by other people in the vicinity. But many of them end up landing on objects like door handles or water faucets. When that happens, infectious disease experts refer to that door handle as a fomite. And if a person then touches the fomite while the virus is still infectious, they can then spread it to new surfaces, or actually infect themselves. Fomites aren’t just for viruses -- any type of pathogen can create fomites -- but we’re talking about viruses… obvious reasons. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus particles don't last forever -- or even all that long. Eventually, the protein coat that allows the virus to actu
This Photo of a Husband and Wife Working on a COVID-19 Team Shows the Reality of Working in Hospitals Now
The couple's sweet moment together reflects their devotion to each other and their jobs saving lives. Nurses are on the battlefront of the coronavirus pandemic, working grueling shifts in overcrowded hospitals to assist save lives while sacrificing their own safety and time with loved ones. Nothing illustrates this devotion and sacrifice quite this emotional photo of two nurse anesthetists who are married to every other and work on an equivalent Anesthesia COVID-19 Airway team—savoring their limited time together without knowing what is going to come next, and if their own lives are at stake. Nicole Hubbard, a chief nurse anesthetist at a hospital in Tampa, Florida, took the photo of her two married colleagues, Ben Cayer and Mindy Brock, and posted it to Facebook on March 31. Cayer and Brock also are both nurse anesthetists. The photo shows them moments before they started their shift on their hospital's Anesthesia COVID-19 Airway team.