Since COVID-19 came to India, people are looking out for all sorts of ways to protect themselves. Be it practicing hand hygiene or wearing a mask, you are doing everything possible to keep the virus at bay. There have already been many speculations to determine, for how long the virus survives on different surfaces.
According to a study by the National Institutes of Health, USA, COVID-19 can thrive on cardboards for 24 hours, while on steel and plastics it can live upto three days. Several studies claim that it can also live on your shoes for a maximum of five days. Since most shoes are made of leather, rubber and plastic, they can become another carrier of the virus.
Infectious disease specialist Mary E. Schmidt said that the time of survival of the virus can actually be five days or more according to several studies done on materials closely related to shoe materials at room temperature. According to Georgine Nanos, who is a family practitioner in USA, shoes can be a potential source of contamination, especially if they’re worn in heavily populated areas such as markets, hospitals, workplace etc.