All y'all.. Coronavirus can live on surfaces. The most vulnerable are steel and plastic, which the virus can live on for 72 hours at the MOST. There is information out there that the virus lived for 17 days on a cruise ship. This is not entirely accurate. Here is why:

A CDC investigation of said ship found evidence of viral RNA in cabins that had not yet been cleaned. To be clear, this means that the virus was detectable - not that it was viable or contact with it would have been able to infect.

RNA = ribonucleic acid. This carries the virus's genetic information. Evidence of RNA means that there are parts of the virus that remained on the ship. However, the virus needs many other components to be intact.

If you have bits and pieces of RNA, that's NOT going to make a virus. You need an entire intact genome. Just because you had a little trace of RNA doesn’t mean that there's an infection.

The entire point of this thread is to say that when putting information out there, PLEASE make sure you provide the full picture and the science. It is extremely important right now to not spread misinformation.

Scientist Daniela thanks you for reading