ATHENS, Ga. — When the coronavirus pandemic first began in 2020, there was much that officials did not know about the virus and how to combat it. One area of concern was how to disinfect surfaces that were contaminated with SARS-CoV-2. Institutions such as schools and daycares especially needed to know how to clean high-touch surfaces to reduce the risk of infection.
Malak Esseili, a virologist at the University of Georgia Center for Food Safety within the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, began researching methods of inactivating SARS-CoV-2 on surfaces in 2021.
Her team discovered. . .