Presence and Stability of SARS-CoV-2 on Environmental Currency and Money Cards

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 was far more stable 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. 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.

Stability of pathogens on banknotes and coins: A narrative review

“…17 Using a different approach to evaluate the risk of fomite-based virus transmission, banknotes and money cards of people nearby a University were swabbed for the presence of SARS-CoV-2. 25 While T A B L E 1 Viruses detected on different currencies.…”

“…SARS-CoV-2 Coins Todt et al 17 ; Schijven et al 23 Banknotes Harbourt et al 15 ; Akter et al 24 ; Todt et al 17 ; Newey et al 25 ; Schijven et al 23 Money cards Newey et al 25 Hepatitis prevent a mass outbreak. 35 Their interaction was brief or through surfaces such as survival equipment subsequently handled by others and did not lead to any downstream positive cases.…”

“…17 In addition, other studies have shown that viable SARS-CoV-2 can still be isolated from banknotes until 24 h post-contamination, whereas the virus remained infectious for 48 h on money cards in vitro. 25 In contrast, a retrospective analysis of the famous SARS-CoV Ward 8A outbreak by a multiagent model suggested a nonnegligible role of fomite-based transmission, 31 which belongs to the same virus family as the newly emerged SARS-CoV-2. In line with the observations by Todt et al, 17 survival on US coins was lower compared to banknotes (Figure 1).…”

“…Similar results were obtained using the SARS‐CoV‐2 alpha variant suggesting comparable inactivation kinetics (Figure 1). 17 In addition, other studies have shown that viable SARS‐CoV‐2 can still be isolated from banknotes until 24 h post‐contamination, whereas the virus remained infectious for 48 h on money cards in vitro 25 . In contrast, a retrospective analysis of the famous SARS‐CoV Ward 8A outbreak by a multiagent model suggested a nonnegligible role of fomite‐based transmission, 31 which belongs to the same virus family as the newly emerged SARS‐CoV‐2.…”

“…However, using lower viral loads (10 4 TCID 50 /mL) resembling the real‐life scenario did not result in successful virus recovery 17 . Using a different approach to evaluate the risk of fomite‐based virus transmission, banknotes and money cards of people nearby a University were swabbed for the presence of SARS‐CoV‐2 25 . While some money cards showed low levels of SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA, no infectious virus could be recovered.…”