Is it possible for covid to survive in our yard in the sunlight.

[SUN1686]

Im terrified my husband who works in other peoples homes could bring it into our yard and home on his shoes and clothes. I clean inside and he washes his clothes and takes a shower when he gets home but I'm wondering if it can survive in our yard if it was on his shoes.

[Paxiled]

Originally it was thought possible the virus spread by touching surfaces, but this hasn't proven to be the way we get it.  We get it almost always by breathing in someone else's breath who has it.  So while no it can't survive in your yard, it needs a human host to survive and replicate, your husband is subject to catching it from his customers if he isn't religious about wearing a mask and social distancing, even if vaccinated, as so many were allowed by inaction to become infected the virus had a chance to mutate to something strong enough to infect even some of those who are fully vaccinated, although they very seldom need hospitalization or end up in the ICU or die.  But this is also true of whenever you go out.  The way you'd get it from your husband, or he from you, is by catching it and breathing on one another.  

[SUN1686]

So it's not possible for him to bring it into the yard or house on his shoes or clothes then? I clean inside but I'm nervous about outside as nobody really knows if sunlight kills it or how long it can survive on surfaces.  So if he was in someone's home,where they obviously don't wear masks all the time and they were to have covid and spit somehow landed up on the floor or other surfaces when they spoke or coughed before his arrival and he then stepped in it or brushed against it, would it not then be able to survive on his shoes or clothes then. It's giving me some real anxiety

[Paxiled]

I believe by now they pretty much do know how long it survives outside the body.  The evidence as I understand it is, with all the contact tracing that has been done, I don't believe anyone got it by solely being exposed to a surface.  They were all in close proximity to someone who had it.  The fact your husband is in people's homes where the owners don't wear masks doesn't mean he shouldn't wear one for protection, and covid doesn't spread easily outdoors -- you'd have to be in very close proximity to a large gathering where folks had covid.  Indoors, the droplets expelled from one's mouth and nose spread much further than they do outdoors, where the weather forces it down to the ground where nobody can get it.  Hope that settles you down about this, but that doesn't mean you have no risk.  As long as your husband is working in those conditions where he's going inside and not masking and not distancing he can get infected.  It is what it is.  But it won't be from a surface and definitely not from your yard.

[AnnieBrooke]

He's not going to get it from his shoes, sweetheart. Be sure he masks even if the people in the house don't (especially if they don't), and uses a good quality mask, an N95 or KN95. Be sure he doesn't just casually let it fall off his nose when he's talking. What you're guarding against is his breathing in virus from the AIR, and possibly getting it from that kind of aerial transmission, and then passing it back to the family in the AIR. Not from his hands, not from his clothes, not from his shoes, and not in the back yard.

[orphanedhawk]

I was told by a doctor that sunlight kills viruses

[Paxiled]

Not necessarily.  The main point here is that people aren't really getting covid from surfaces indoors or out, yet we still are being advised to wash with soap and water when we get home because soap breaks up viruses.  The caution is because it's theoretically possible to get a virus from a surface if it was put there recently enough and is potent enough and you touch it and get your nose close enough to it and breathe in enough of it for it to take root.  But it doesn't really seem to have happened.  Everyone who was contact traced, and that's a lot of people, got it by breathing it in from a situation where there was close contact with infected people.  Sunlight does contain a form of UV radiation that kills viruses, but it doesn't do that immediately, it has to be strong enough, there has to be no cloud cover, long enough days, etc.  If it's on you the amount of UV radiation necessary to kill it would also possibly cause skin cancer.  So, the soap and water, and the masks, and the distancing.  The main protection of outdoors is that the virus droplets don't travel as far in the air, they are pushed down more quickly, so you have to be quite close to someone for a lengthy amount of time to get it.  So while the type of UV radiation that kills viruses is in sunlight, it doesn't mean that sunlight is actually getting to the virus or that the virus dies immediately.  More accurately, the virus falls to the ground where you aren't going to breathe in enough of it to get infected at concentrations where it's really dangerous because the virus weakens if it can't find a host.  Remember, it wasn't just sitting around, it appears to have gotten to us from bats in some way because bats are wonderful hosts for viruses since they live in crowded conditions and don't themselves seem to get sick and die from them.  When they cross into other mammals, you get problems.  Peace.

[Paxiled]

To clarify, the issue isn't that there's virus about, the issue is, is it strong enough and in the right place to infect you?  The answer here is no.

[SUN1686]

I think the major thing for me is, I have tiny kids that crawl and play directly on the ground. So if there was somehow something on my husbands shoes that he stepped in and he tracked it into our backyard when coming home and the sunlight doesn't kill it, it could get onto them while playing there the next day. Its getting to me, we have this lovely big  backyard but instead my kids play inside or in the very tiny front yard where my husband doesn't move around when coming home.

[Paxiled]

Look, don't take this the wrong way, but when everyone tells you there's no risk that way and you still keep asking the same question, the problem is you're having some anxiety problems.  Given how long this pandemic has lasted that's natural, but I've got to ask, do you have anxiety about other things as well or just this one thing?  

[Paxiled]

And let me ask you, how many times have your kids gotten the flu crawling around in the yard?  Ever worried about it?

[AnnieBrooke]

I think if you are preventing your kids from playing in your big back yard for this reason, you are not being kind to them. They won't get Covid from contact with the ground where your husband has walked.

[SUN1686]

I'm sorry I am just a worried mommy, my anxiety is mostly about covid related things. I have seen my doctor and she did start me out on some new meds, hoping they will start to work soon as I had my baby 3 months early during the pandemic and was diagnosed with anxiety and ptsd after the nicu stay. Thank you for your responses it's greatly appreciated

[AnnieBrooke]

It sounds like you've been under an understandably high amount of stress. Is there any way you can get counseling? It helps a lot. Talk to your ob/gyn and see if they have a social worker on staff who helps women who have just had children.

[SUN1686]

It's been a very stressful time. Thank you Annie, I will contact my obgyn and have a chat with her. I was really desperate as I don't want my kids to suffer because of my anxiety and my fears that's why I asked here, sometimes to get rid of the fear you need a answer from just a normal person living life daily who maybe still share or shared  the same fear. Kind regards to you

[Paxiled]

I'm a bit concerned about you being given "drugs" by your doc.  If covid is the only thing you have this anxiety about or mostly about, I think therapy will do you just fine.  GPs are really quick on the draw with meds, but meds for mental illness are no picnic.  When they're necessary they can be a life saver, but they are given out like candy in our society and again, all meds have drawbacks.  I would try to fix this with the usual suspects -- exercise, eating well, sleeping regularly, meditation, and therapy before I'd get myself on difficult meds.  Covid has been hard on us all, but that's a lot different than a mental illness, which is what the drugs are for.  I'd think about it at least.

[AnnieBrooke]

Sometimes the mind focuses on one thing to worry about because it's easier than dealing with being in free-floating anxiety about another thing or lots of things at once. If the trauma of having a premature baby in NICU gave you anxiety and stress that was hard to handle and it's a time when there is Covid, it's not that surprising that your mind would focus on Covid as "the problem" instead. Do talk with a counselor or therapist and try to name your bigger anxieties and work out methods (Paxiled mentioned some of them above) to help ease your reaction to life issues. You won't get rid of the issues, but you can find more productive and appropriate ways to react to them. Good luck.

[AnnieBrooke]

(By more productive and appropriate ways to react, I mean, not like when you are keeping the kids out of the back yard. That doesn't work to ease your stress nor does it make sense from how Covid is passed around, and your kids should get to play in the back yard. Take care.)

[SUN1686]

Thank you to the both of you. I will definitely think on this and try some of the above mentioned methods to ease see if I can ease some of this stress and anxiety.