RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 The effect of temperature and humidity on the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and other enveloped viruses
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 2020.10.16.341883
DO 10.1101/2020.10.16.341883
A1 Dylan H. Morris
A1 Kwe Claude Yinda
A1 Amandine Gamble
A1 Fernando W. Rossine
A1 Qishen Huang
A1 Trenton Bushmaker
A1 Robert J. Fischer
A1 M. Jeremiah Matson
A1 Neeltje van Doremalen
A1 Peter J. Vikesland
A1 Linsey C. Marr
A1 Vincent J. Munster
A1 James O. Lloyd-Smith
YR 2020
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2020/10/16/2020.10.16.341883.abstract
AB Since emerging in late 2019, SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic, and it may become an endemic human pathogen. Understanding the impact of environmental conditions on SARS-CoV-2 viability and its transmission potential is crucial to anticipating epidemic dynamics and designing mitigation strategies. Ambient temperature and humidity are known to have strong effects on the environmental stability of viruses1, but there is little data for SARS-CoV-2, and a general quantitative understanding of how temperature and humidity affect virus stability has remained elusive. Here, we characterise the stability of SARS-CoV-2 on an inert surface at a variety of temperature and humidity conditions, and introduce a mechanistic model that enables accurate prediction of virus stability in unobserved conditions. We find that SARS-CoV-2 survives better at low temperatures and extreme relative humidities; median estimated virus half-life was more than 24 hours at 10 °C and 40 % RH, but approximately an hour and a half at 27 °C and 65 % RH. Our results highlight scenarios of particular transmission risk, and provide a mechanistic explanation for observed superspreading events in cool indoor environments such as food processing plants. Moreover, our model predicts observations from other human coronaviruses and other studies of SARS-CoV-2, suggesting the existence of shared mechanisms that determine environmental stability across a number of enveloped viruses.Competing Interest StatementThe authors have declared no competing interest.