Is copper really anti-bacterial?

According to a medical paper “Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1” from The NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL of MEDICINE on 13rd March 2020.


Copper

  • For thousands of years, copper has been an integral component of tools, jewelry, and other items across the world.

  • Copper possess traits such as malleability (the ease of hammering and shaping) and beauty.

  • Copper also has very strong antimicrobial properties.

→ The novel SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19) was tested on copper surfaces, and found to survive for approximately 4 hours.

→ This is a much lower time of survival than on stainless steel and plastic.


Stainless Steel and Plastics

  • SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19) was found to be most stable on stainless steel and plastic surfaces, the virus was still able to be detected in small quantitues after 72 hours.

  • SARS-CoV-2 (COVID19) can survive on surfaces and possible be transmitted after 3 days.


Reference:1) Neeltje van Doremalen, Dylan H. Morris, Myndi G. Holbrook, Amandine Gamble, Brandi N. Williamson, Azaibi Tamin, Jennifer L. Harcourt, Natalie J. Thornburg, Susan I. Gerber, James O. Lloyd-Smith, Emmie de Wit, Vincent J. Munster, “Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1”, The NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL of MEDICINE, 13rd March 2020, https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmc20049732) Dan Ventura, “ How long can coronavirus (COVID-19) live on surface?”, Hawk Environmental Services, Inc., 16th March 2020, https://hawkenvironmental.com/how-long-can-coronavirus-live-on-surfaces/