The mantra of the stay-at-home era is that decisions are being made based on science, data and facts.

Here is a fact: The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has changed its information about how COVID-19 is transmitted.

According to the latest scientific data from the CDC, COVID-19 is not easily transmitted from surfaces. Here is the official notice from the CDC website:

“From touching surfaces or objects. It may be possible that a person can get COVID-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it and then touching their own mouth, nose, or possibly their eyes. This is not thought to be the main way the virus spreads, but we are still learning more about this virus.”

“It may be possible” is pretty weak. It doesn’t say “likely” or even that the data has shown that 10 people in the country have contracted COVID-19 from touching surfaces. In fact, “it may be possible” certainly implies that in all the tracking that has been done, the CDC hasn’t come up with any cases where they can prove this was the method of transmission. If the CDC had proof that someone had contracted COVID-19 from touching a surface, it seems the notice would have said – it is possible – not “it may be possible.”

It’s worth noting that in April the CDC said that people wearing masks in public was not recommended for preventing the spread of COVID-19. It later changed that recommendation and started recommending that people wear masks in public. But the CDC does make it clear that wearing a cloth face cover does not protect you; it protects other people from you. The CDC website states, “The cloth face cover is meant to protect other people in case you are infected.”