Novel role of plastic wrap in COVID-19.

Chen, Yusha; Pradhan, Sushmita; Xue, Siliang

The COVID-19 pandemic is spreading across the world rapidly and poses unprecedented challenges to healthcare systems around the world. It transmits primarily by the droplet route, though surface contact may play an important role as well.1 While people are aware of universal mask-wearing to reduce respiratory droplet transmission, contact transmission, particularly through the indirect contact transmission, is a hidden danger that is often overlooked. There are some sources of non-negligible routes for indirect contact in hospitals, such as the keyboard and elevator buttons often used daily by frontline health workers. However, it is difficult to disinfect these areas thoroughly due to their uneven surfaces. This constitutes a barrier to the precaution of contact transmission.