Can Coronavirus Live on Hair?
As the coronavirus continues to spread across the U.S., researchers and experts are finding out more information about how long the virus can survive on certain surfaces.
It was first a rumored that the virus would last only a few minutes, they around the internet it was falsely reported that the virus lasts for weeks. But now we are learning that COVID-19 lasts:
– in aerosols for up to three hours
– up to four hours on copper
– up to 24 hours on cardboard
– up to two to three days on plastic
– up to 2 days on stainless steel
But one surface that people haven’t tested is hair. Does it last on human hair? If so, how long and depending on the style of hair, would it last longer? Like braids that are weaved tight or hair that doesn’t leave a lat of room on the scalp?
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Well, Dr. Adam Friedman, the interim chair of dermatology at the George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, noted that it depends on the circumstances of the hair.
“If you were to just rip out a few strands of hair, put them down and someone who’s positive for corona sneezed on it, could the virus live on that hair, which has been ripped out and is no longer part of the human system? From what we’re seeing from a New England Journal of Medicine paper, it’s very possible it could live on that surface for up to three days,” Friedman explained to USA Today.
If that same hair were still attached to the scalp, however, it would be a different story.
“This hair is not just hair sitting on a table,” he said, citing the natural oils that cover strands act as a protectant. “They do have some antimicrobial properties, and
