National Academies have had a warning out for a while against the myth sunblock incubates coronavirus. This refers back to a finding published April 24, 2020 that viruses die sooner under artificial sunlight. An imaginative person turned this around to an incorrect interpretation COVID virus live longer under sunscreen on our bodies. We publish this post to set the record straight.
Researchers Did Not Say COVID Virus Lives Longer Under Sunscreen
The research report in Medical Express (see link below) did not say COVID virus lives longer with sunscreen. It actually said ‘It would be irresponsible for us to say that we feel that the summer [sunlight]is just going to totally kill the virus’. However, ‘sunlight will create an environment where transmission can be decreased,’ it conceded.
Moreover, the scientists made no mention of sunscreen increasing the time the coronavirus survives outside a human body. If we were to take this false rumor to its logical extreme, we would all be outside without sunblock or clothes. Ask any dermatologist what this would do to our skin.
Sunlight May Destroy Some Virus but It Also Triggers Cancer
National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine are blunt about this in their rebuttal we also link to below. They say the finding in Medical Express has neither been repeated, nor confirmed.
While they do admit ultra violet UV rays might kill coronavirus on human skin. They also add the chances of a virus being there are lower than the potential of causing cancer-inducing damage.
Therefore, the Academies suggest sanitizing, or washing hands and forearms with soap and water is a far more effective way to kill the virus. We believe it is particularly important to do so often. That’s because our hands come into contact with many surfaces each day, including our mouths and noses where virus travels.
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How Long a Covid Virus Survives on Surfaces
Preview Image: UV Radiation and Skin Cancer
