KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Clean is the new marketing strategy these days.
Restaurants, stores and hotel brands promise employees will scrub and disinfect every surface in sight.
The only problem is that surfaces are not the main mode of transmission for COVID-19.
"It is a way that it can be spread, but it is certainly not a major way it is spread," said Dr. Dana Hawkinson with the University of Kansas Health System.
According to the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, close contact between two people is the main way the disease is transmitted.
The obsession over disinfecting surfaces was recently explored by Derek Thompson of The Atlantic, who dubbed the phenomenon "hygiene theater."
Thompson writes that the pandemic has "reawakened America's spirit of misdirected anxiety, inspiring businesses and families to obsess over risk-reduction rituals that make us feel safer but don't actually do much to reduce risk — even as more dangerous activities are still allowed."
For example, disinfecting a piece of gym equipment does not cancel out the fact that a group of people are still gathered together inside.
Thompson's piece points to the work of Emanuel Goldman, a microbiology professor at the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.
Goldman argued in a July article published in Lancet that the risk for transmission through inanimate surfaces has been exaggerated and is in fact "very small."
Goldman says that previous studies exploring the risk did not mimic real world conditions, where the concentration of the virus in droplets would be much lower.
He warned the current focus on disinfection could become "counterproductive" outside of hospital settings.
That's because people have become overwhelmed by infection control methods in this marathon fight against COVID-19. Sometimes it can be difficult to pinpoint what should be prioritized.
Medical professionals say coronavirus "safety fatigue" is a real phenomenon.
The physicians at the University of Kansas Health System have taken to calling it "COVID Weariness Syndrome," or COWS.
"We have a funny moniker for it, but it's real," Dr. Steven Stites said. "And I think that what we have to try to do is our best to maintain our mental health in the midst of the pandemic."
"It's all up to us to do the individual right thing, and even though we're weary, each day is a new day. Continue to do those things we're endorsing," Hawkinson added.
The safety measures he referred to include wearing a mask, practicing social distancing and washing your hands. Avoid touching your face after coming in contact with high-touch surfaces like door handles just in case someone coughed or sneezed in the vicinity.
