New REALM Updates!

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I know – we’re all tired of dealing with this pandemic. Sorry, everyone – we aren’t going to wrap this up any time soon. So we will need to keep working on building up the safest strategies for ourselves, for our libraries, and for our community members.

REopening Archives, Libraries, and Museums (REALM) is a research project conducted by OCLC, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and Battelle to produce science-based information about how materials can be handled to mitigate COVID-19 exposure to staff and visitors of archives, libraries, and museums.”

We have talked about REALM in other articles. And we even have a podcast, helping to share information about the pandemic challenges and guidelines: Listen here.

The latest round of tests – Test Five – was recently released. “As part of the REALM project’s research, Battelle has conducted five natural attenuation studies on how long the infectious virus may survive on materials common to archives, libraries, and museums. Spread via contact with contaminated objects (also called fomites) is not currently believed to be the primary cause of COVID-19 infection, but additional research is needed to better understand this route of transmission.”

Results show that after eight days of quarantine, SARS-CoV-2 virus was still detected on leather and synthetic leather materials. For the polyolefin fabric and nylon webbing, only the amount of virus after the initial 1 hour of drying time could be measured. No data for the cotton fabric could be collected or reported.”

Wear masks! Keep social distance!

And of course – wiping surfaces is important and we need to be cautious in handling materials that may have virus. But this is an airborne transmitted virus, so wearing masks and keeping some social distance is still going to be the most important things we can do.

Also available is a review of SARS-CoV-2 research published through mid-August 2020, which summarizes current research on how the virus spreads, its survival on materials and surfaces, and the effectiveness of various prevention and decontamination measures.

The new findings highlight the growing evidence that the virus is most commonly spread between people in close contact and through virus-containing respiratory droplets, and that aerosols may be a contributor to infection. Additional details regarding the effectiveness of social distancing, masks, fresh air, UV light, and hand washing are provided as well. The findings underscore the fact that there remain some critical “known unknowns” about COVID-19, including (1) how much virus is needed to infect someone, (2) how much virus an infected person sheds, and (3) whether people are getting infected by touching objects and surfaces.