In Shanghai, the epicenter of the country’s largest outbreak, state media reported that thousands of workers were organized into zone disinfection teams, focusing on those known to have accepted patients with Covid – a move the government has made. sees Omicron as a key to limit the spread of the Omicron variant.
But the practice often goes much further. Apparently, any open area is at risk of being targeted by workers using leaf-blow disinfectants, as China’s strict Zero Covid policy leads to a mania for disinfecting everything.
In Shanghai, firefighters were relieved of their duties to take on the role of disinfectants, a local youth league recruited volunteers for disinfection teams, and rescue teams from remote parts of China were involved in the movement – often with heavy equipment belts and full danger .
Special chemical plants have been set up in some parts of Shanghai, while in others vehicles have been equipped with chemical tanks and cannon-like devices to launch disinfectants into the streets, according to local media. Disinfection robots are located at railway stations and are designed to patrol some quarantine centers.
But these efforts – and others, such as insisting workers to wear protective suits and thunderous recorded messages that are reproduced reminding people how to prevent disease – can be a waste of time, effort and resources.
Experts say the transmission of the virus through contaminated surfaces is extremely low – and that sanitizing outdoor areas such as parks and city streets is largely pointless and, worse, can even pose a threat to public health.
“Robots and street spraying are performative actions designed to build public confidence in government action,” said Nicholas Thomas, an associate professor at Hong Kong City University, who noted that Chinese authorities have long cited environmental pollution as part of their rhetoric. that the virus may not have originated in China.
“This is a problem when politics dominates and deviates from the science of pandemic response – more and more efforts must be made to strengthen policy through actions that do not necessarily increase the biosecurity of the affected population to the same extent as efforts that they are needed to take them, “he said.
Imported virus?
Mass disinfection is part of a long-running campaign in China to combat the risk of transmitting Covid-19, which much of the world considers too minimal to impose post-wash measures and maintain disinfection on certain surfaces, such as busy public places and where food is processed or patients with Covid-19 are treated.
In a scientific report last year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said research showed that any contact with a surface contaminated with Covid-19 had less than a 1 in 10,000 chance of causing an infection. Such research has led many to view the apparent focus on disinfection as a “hygienic theater” as opposed to any significant measure to prevent the disease.
Mass disinfection is not part of disease control measures in Western countries, “because public health authorities follow science,” according to Emanuel Goldman, a professor of microbiology at Rutgers Medical School in New Jersey.
((It is unlikely that some cases are the result of touching contaminated surfaces. The virus dies quickly outside an infected person … and is transmitted very inefficiently through the fingers, “he said.) Washing hands with soap or alcohol wipes is everything which you need to reduce the frequency to zero. “
In China, where strict practices are focused on eliminating any spread of the virus, fears of contaminated surfaces date back to the first months of the pandemic, especially after Chinese officials said the outbreak in Beijing was likely caused by an infected worker. from working with imported, frozen salmon infected with a virus.
Although the World Health Organization says it is “very unlikely” that people will be able to become infected with Covid-19 through food or food packaging, Chinese authorities have repeatedly indicated imports with cold chain or other contaminated surfaces, such as airplanes or even international mail, because vectors of disease.
This has led to a number of measures largely unique to China, such as testing the surfaces of imports for traces of viruses and mass disinfection of frozen goods from abroad, while some cities have introduced various orders to disinfect international mail and parcels – although national health experts said earlier this year that there was insufficient evidence that such non-cold-chain items could transmit the virus.
And as Beijing has tried to revise the story of the origin of the coronavirus, first discovered in China, officials have theorized that the virus could be imported on frozen goods in the first place – a hypothesis widely rejected by international experts.
Although there is some evidence that the virus can remain infected on frozen packaging, the way countries may want to deal with this risk varies, according to Leo Poon, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health.
“For countries that use an elimination strategy, this is a significant risk. However, for most countries at the moment, this may not be very important,” he said.
But when it comes to touching ordinary surfaces, this is “not the main transmission mode for Covid-19,” he said, adding that some disinfection of the premises may be a good idea.
Potential risk
In places like Shanghai, where resources are already stretched as the city struggles through a week-long blockade, deploying volunteers and disinfection workers could focus on the wrong risk.
“There is really no role in the mass disinfection of outdoor areas, pavements and walls. They are unlikely to be contaminated or cause transmission through the surface of the mucosa (such as eyes, nose or mouth),” said Dale Fisher, a professor at the National University of Singapore. Yong Loo Lin Medical School.
There may be downsides to this work, according to Rutgers-New Jersey Medical School’s Goldman, who says people can be harmed by exposure to severe disinfection.
While the WHO supports disinfection such as wiping areas such as door handles in busy public places, WHO guidelines say that “spraying disinfectants, even outdoors, can be harmful to human health and cause eye irritation or damage. roads or skin ‘. Earlier in the pandemic, a group of Chinese scientists warned in a letter to the journal Science that excessive use of chlorine disinfectants posed a risk of water pollution and even endangered ecosystems in nearby lakes and rivers.
There are signs of similar concerns from Shanghai authorities, even as disinfection measures continue.
Late last month, officials issued recommendations to residents on how to disinfect, urging them not to “spray disinfectants directly on people”, use “canon trucks” and drones, or disinfect the outside air.
“These practices are essentially ineffective and can cause health hazards and environmental pollution,” said a Shanghai official.
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