[conspire] Panic buying

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

>  Is there any data on how long the virus can survive on a hard surface?

_Some_ data.  In controlled testing, it lasted longest on plastic surfaces
(compared to stainless steel, copper, and cardboard):  On plastic,
viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application, but in
greatly reduced concentration.
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973

Separately from that one, there was also a study of longevity of the
closely related original SARS (aka SARS-CoV-1) and MERS viruses from a
few years ago, suggesting they might survive on surfaces for on the
order of five days.  It's arguable by the close relation of the new
virus to the old ones that its longevity ought to be similar.
https://www.journalofhospitalinfection.com/article/S0195-6701(20)30046-3/fulltext