Three notable updates on COVID-19 for ASC leaders to know:
1. Surface transmission. Researchers at Australia's national science agency, CSIRO, found evidence that SARS-CoV-2 — the virus that causes COVID-19 — can survive on common surfaces for up to 28 days. The study results were published Oct. 12 in Virology Journal.
2. Reinfection. The first confirmed cases of COVID-19 reinfection in the U.S. were reported in a 25-year-old Nevada man and a 42-year-old Virginia man, Medscape reported Oct. 12. Two months after testing positive for the first time, both men were reinfected with slightly different strains, gene tests showed.
3. Vaccines. Johnson & Johnson voluntarily paused the clinical trial for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Oct. 12 after learning of a participant's unexplained illness. In September, AstraZeneca took a "voluntary pause" of its phase 3 COVID-19 vaccine trial after an adverse reaction in a patient in the U.K.
