ArticlePloS one2022
Presence and stability of SARS-CoV-2 on environmental currency and money cards in Utah reveals a lack of live virus.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Molecular detection of SARS-CoV-2 and medically important respiratory and gastrointestinal virus pathogens on Thai currency.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- A narrative review of alternative transmission routes of COVID 19: what we know so far.Pathogens and global health · 2023Review
- Article
- Persistence of SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces and relevance to the food industry.Current opinion in food science · 2022Review
- Environmental Stability of Enveloped Viruses is Impacted by the Initial Volume and Evaporation Kinetics of Droplets.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The highly contagious nature of SARS-CoV-2 has led to several studies on the transmission of the virus. A little studied potential fomite of great concern in the community is currency, which has been shown to harbor microbial pathogens in several studies. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses in the United States have limited the use of banknotes in favor of credit cards. However, SARS-CoV-2 has shown greater stability on plastic in several studies. Herein, the stability of SARS-CoV-2 at room temperature on banknotes, money cards and coins was investigated. In vitro studies with live virus suggested SARS-CoV-2 was highly unstable on banknotes, showing an initial rapid reduction in viable virus and no viral detection by 24 hours. In contrast, SARS-CoV-2 displayed increased stability on money cards with live virus detected after 48 hours. Environmental swabbing of currency and money cards on and near the campus of Brigham Young University supported these results, with no detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA on banknotes, and a low level on money cards. However, no viable virus was detected on either. These preliminary results suggest that the use of money cards over banknotes in order to slow the spread of this virus may be ill-advised. These findings should be investigated further through larger environmental studies involving more locations.
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Registered trials
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