7 ms·

Because the virus can spread on surfaces I think. As well as food, and organic matter.

anaphor 7y ago
China Post has been shipping stuff and spraying it with disinfectant. I don't see why that would be a problem. Also doesn't it take more than 9 days to sail across the atlantic ocean?
- brianwawok 7y ago
  A lot of goods travel by air from China. See all Apple products (this is a guess, could be wrong)
- vanniv 7y ago
  You can sail across the Atlantic in 4-5 days on an ocean liner
  - namibj 7y ago
    Containers seem to take >=7 days from Germany's closest international port to Newark, NJ (practically NYC), last time I looked at routes and prices.
    - vanniv 7y ago
      Oh, that's probably true. They're optimized for throughput rather than speed. Ocean liners that carry passengers take 4-5
      - namibj 7y ago
        Actually, to a large extend it's fuel prices that cause these "low" speeds. Many cargo ships can be a lot faster if they have a reason that's worth the massive increase in fuel usage.
        vanniv 7y ago
        That also makes a ton of sense.
brianpgordon 7y ago
No. From the CDC: > It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. > In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from food products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient, refrigerated, or frozen temperatures.
- suchire 7y ago
  Not sure the CDC is the most credible source at this point
  - daenz 7y ago
    >most credible source Which would you say is the most credible source then?
    - willj 7y ago
      This study [1] says it can last on surfaces for 2-3 days. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v1.full.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v...
      - tempestn 7y ago
        Which would be consistent with the risk being low for goods shipped from Europe or Asia to North America, right?
      - Angostura 7y ago
        That's an un peer-reviewed pre-print.
        exdsq 7y ago
        That might be so, however there are enough names from enough reputable research centers to take it at face value. If we need to wait for printed peer-reviewed journal papers to combat an active pandemic then we might be waiting a while!
nerfhammer 7y ago
standard procedure is to just have cargo sit in quarantine for 14 days or whatever. it's a lot less of a hassle than trying to quarantine people
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  Seems excessive for viruses. They live nowhere near that long outside their hosts. Even a day is a long period of time in optimal conditions, and not many situations are close to optimal.
  - pottertheotter 7y ago
    “An analysis of 22 earlier studies of similar coronaviruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) published online this month in the Journal of Hospital Infection, concluded that human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces for up to nine days at room temperature.” https://news.trust.org/item/20200228215640-n07fz https://news.trust.org/item/20200228215640-n07fz
    - Scoundreller 7y ago
      It's the "up to" bit that I take issue with. It's a half-life thing. The larger your initial sample, the longer the sample can go and still have enough infectious ability left. Scenario: Infected person sneezes over a large area and deposits over a wide area. Then you come by 6 hours later and touch a deposited surface and then 10 minutes later touch your eyes. Each transition only picked up a fraction of what was left. And each time period left only a fraction of what was there. More important to limit travel, limit direct/close contact and clean commonly used surfaces frequently. And better to avoid replicating the environmental conditions that created the "up to 9 day" figure: low temperatures and low humidity.

China Post has been shipping stuff and spraying it with disinfectant. I don't see why that would be a problem. Also doesn't it take more than 9 days to sail across the atlantic ocean?

brianwawok 7y ago
A lot of goods travel by air from China. See all Apple products (this is a guess, could be wrong)
vanniv 7y ago
You can sail across the Atlantic in 4-5 days on an ocean liner
- namibj 7y ago
  Containers seem to take >=7 days from Germany's closest international port to Newark, NJ (practically NYC), last time I looked at routes and prices.
  - vanniv 7y ago
    Oh, that's probably true. They're optimized for throughput rather than speed. Ocean liners that carry passengers take 4-5
    - namibj 7y ago
      Actually, to a large extend it's fuel prices that cause these "low" speeds. Many cargo ships can be a lot faster if they have a reason that's worth the massive increase in fuel usage.
      - vanniv 7y ago
        That also makes a ton of sense.

brianpgordon 7y ago

No. From the CDC: > It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes, but this is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads. > In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from food products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient, refrigerated, or frozen temperatures.

suchire 7y ago
Not sure the CDC is the most credible source at this point
- daenz 7y ago
  >most credible source Which would you say is the most credible source then?
  - willj 7y ago
    This study [1] says it can last on surfaces for 2-3 days. https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v1.full.pdf https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v...
    - tempestn 7y ago
      Which would be consistent with the risk being low for goods shipped from Europe or Asia to North America, right?
    - Angostura 7y ago
      That's an un peer-reviewed pre-print.
      - exdsq 7y ago
        That might be so, however there are enough names from enough reputable research centers to take it at face value. If we need to wait for printed peer-reviewed journal papers to combat an active pandemic then we might be waiting a while!

nerfhammer 7y ago

standard procedure is to just have cargo sit in quarantine for 14 days or whatever. it's a lot less of a hassle than trying to quarantine people

Scoundreller 7y ago
Seems excessive for viruses. They live nowhere near that long outside their hosts. Even a day is a long period of time in optimal conditions, and not many situations are close to optimal.
- pottertheotter 7y ago
  “An analysis of 22 earlier studies of similar coronaviruses, including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) published online this month in the Journal of Hospital Infection, concluded that human coronaviruses can remain infectious on inanimate surfaces for up to nine days at room temperature.” https://news.trust.org/item/20200228215640-n07fz https://news.trust.org/item/20200228215640-n07fz
  - Scoundreller 7y ago
    It's the "up to" bit that I take issue with. It's a half-life thing. The larger your initial sample, the longer the sample can go and still have enough infectious ability left. Scenario: Infected person sneezes over a large area and deposits over a wide area. Then you come by 6 hours later and touch a deposited surface and then 10 minutes later touch your eyes. Each transition only picked up a fraction of what was left. And each time period left only a fraction of what was there. More important to limit travel, limit direct/close contact and clean commonly used surfaces frequently. And better to avoid replicating the environmental conditions that created the "up to 9 day" figure: low temperatures and low humidity.