With business beginning to reopen and people going out in droves to enjoy the warm weather, many have expressed concerns about a potential spike in Coronavirus cases. However, we may have some reassuring news. A new study has found that the summer sun can kill 90% of coronavirus living on surfaces in just 34 minutes.
The study, conducted by Jose-Luis Sagripanti and David Lytle, retired US army and FDA scientists, appeared in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology. The study finds that “midday sunlight in most US and world cities during summer” effectively inactivates the COVID-19 causing virus on surfaces, contradicting the statements of many public health officials over the past few months.
The study also finds, as many have suspected, that the virus is most dangerous from December until March, when it can survive on surfaces for a day or more “with risk of re-aerosolization and transmission in most of these cities.”
Sagripanti and Lytle even goes as far as suggesting that lockdowns may have caused more harm than good, saying “healthy people outdoors receiving sunlight could have been exposed to lower viral dose with more chances for mounting an efficient immune response.” This announcement comes as coronavirus cases continue to spike in several states across the country.