the preservation of our planet. is not as an issue of pardon trees and saving planets anymore. it's us this inventor or seraph. passion for china starts november 6th on g.w. . we're being told to keep things clean. 'd 'd 'd through direct contact or through the air traces of corona virus can be transferred to the objects we touch and in turn transfer to us. to keep that from happening we've come up with innovative ways to avoid having to touch things. to keep surfaces clean. living our lives means it's impossible to avoid all types of contact so we need to understand the real risks in our environments. how long does the virus remain

viable and surfaces and is it ever there in dangerous amounts to surfaces pose the threat we once thought they did. and this is the covert 900 special hello and welcome to the show i'm simply in berlin it's good to have you with us money shopping card store handles just about everything we touch is getting a 2nd look these days or even a cover work around like that elevator we just saw but our anxieties over surface contacts backed up by the research of the virus and its 5 ability to look. weaving in and out among the commute is london simpang chris has this futuristic path. they've been brought in by one of the british capital is busiest railway stations to help with the fight against coronavirus. one sweeps and mops the other uses a powerful 0. provides light to kill microorganisms including those the cause copied

19. keeping coronavirus off the station surfaces is a constant battle. what the new technology we're our cities have our style focusing on the high touch points so that the automatic machines can then go and train them on dying areas and that allows us to ensure that we're doing exactly what we need to do the same across. scientists have been trying to work out how long the virus remains active on surfaces for searches in australia recently tested its survival when left in ideal conditions viruses live in another. matrix that resembles. humans accretions. 1000000000 plus a truckload of forests. led to drive. up to. 20 years. and then resume regular wants to see if we can recover.

the scientists concluded that corona virus can remain infectious on surfaces such as glass steel and polymer banknotes when kept at 20 degrees celsius for at least 4 weeks that's more or less room temperature however move up to 30 degrees and the virus survives for just 7 days at an even higher temperature 40 degrees celsius he remains infectious for just 24 hours. the researchers are however keen to point out that outside of their strictly controlled lab conditions coronavirus may find it a lot harder to survive. in the real world. encounter someone. in the real world. results like. the amounts of virus used in the study are also

likely to be much greater than would be encountered in the real world nevertheless global health officials have taken note of the findings we use this information to look at our disinfectants the good news is that this virus can be disinfected with with disinfectants with chlorine with different types of very very quickly. and that's where the some pancreas robots come in through their work and that of their human colleagues the station stands a better chance of stopping the virus in its tracks. i'm joined now by a man your goldman is professor of microbiology of rockers university in the u.s. your good to have you with us this australian story that we just mentioned in that piece does it tell us anything relevant for normal people about how they should interact with their environments. no i do not believe so the

conditions that they used for these experiments were just completely out of touch with reality this is if. the people the scientists set down and said what what can we devise a way to protect this virus as long as possible what can we do to extend this lifetime that's less what they were doing for example they do their study in the dark the virus is kept in the dark the virus is killed by light ultraviolet light you're already mentioned that in your broadcasts. all light has some some component of ultraviolet. they used. a material in the virus preparation. that they were aiming to imitate human secretions but they use something called bovine serum albumin bovine stands for cattle. this is a protein from cow cows and it's already been published bovine serum albumin protects

the virus and the best from the came. the virus is killed by being dried out they took their experiment and 50 percent humidity. now that's relatively normal humidity and indoors but humidity is a variable it doesn't always stay that a percent and it's turns out that 50 percent humidity is the maximum committee for the virus survival. stories dries out the dogs. in a study it looks like the got a lot of attention obviously because of this this figure of over 28 days survivability what do we know about the actual survivability of the virus under normal conditions. everybody else has looked at it. including including many papers that i have criticised find much much less survival of the

virus and surfaces. the new england journal of medicine paper. found a couple of days. other papers have found a comparable in actual human ucas the virus lives a half life of 3 hours what we mean by half life is that extra set amount of time half the virus is dead and half remains and then same amount of time again half of what was left at that point the scar and half remains for a quarter is left so you do the math and you go through 456 half lives and you're much much lower levels of virus. and. the half life that most people have measured in one paper. order of an hour or 2 maybe 3 hours in new england journal of medicine paper and plastic and still the papers had about a 6 hour halflife i think people are overly concerned about surface transmission

that they're more worried than they should. yes yes i do believe that they are. definitely more more concerned than they should be the main concern should be in what you breathe. this far in the scientific literature with this wires has been transmitted by a surface there are 2 possible papers that suggest it but even there it could just as well have been transmitted by aerosols but the air that you breathe. first says this is a study in south korea. a case in south korea where there was a misuse building of offices and residences of that loving 100 people in the building one of the this is in that building. people got sick with the corona virus and everybody in that office got sick the rest of the building almost nobody got

sick. and if there had been surface transmission we would have seen a lot more in that case briefly if i may ask you just on the piece there about cleaning solutions like these robots to go around the station doesn't fact do you think that's helpful or is that just for peace of mind is it a gesture briefly if you can. i think it's peace of mind it's just a gesture again of the look the problem with focusing on surfaces so that takes your focus away from it really is important which is what you breathe alright and then you will have to leave it there professor emanuel goldman at rutgers university thank you so much thank you and now it's time for your questions it's the part of the show where our science correspondent derrick williams and there's the questions you posted for you to channel over there. how long does an asymptomatic person or one who has overcome cope at 19 remain

a possible source of infection. regardless of whether you have symptoms or if you're asymptomatic if you've been diagnosed with coke at 19 it's important not to leave isolation until your local health authority says you no longer pose a danger to others and it's recommended guidelines that w.h.o. says that on average positive patients who show symptoms could be infectious for up to 10 days after symptoms 1st appear it also says patients should wait at least that long plus 3 days after their symptom free without any medication so a person with an average case of coke at 19 if there is such a thing should isolate a minimum of 13 days for asymptomatic people the w.h.o. recommendation is to isolate for at least 10 days since your last positive test

various national health authorities have interpreted those recommendations in different ways there is no 0 risk scenario but as a rule of thumb people who test positive whether there are symptomatic or asymptomatic are no viewed as being no longer infectious after 2 weeks. or science corresponded there are points there and before we let you go we're also learning how to incorporate social distancing into our routines well here's a school in italy that's found a novel way to bring children to class while staying safe with a so-called petty bus or foot bus that's basically a rope with distance handles the children wear face masks and pull their book bags alongside a system was originally designed to limit air pollution from cars but has been updated for the coronavirus era. and that's it for today's copa

19 special as always thanks for watching. but.

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is deed of in years a live from the stage is set for the final face off dull trump and joe biden are about to go head to head in their 2nd and last presidential debate and nashville tennessee with less than 2 weeks to go before election day of aspiring match between the 2 candidates will cover a wide range of topics after a fractious and chaotic 1st encounter will the tone bit different this time we'll have a full debate live starting in just a few minutes. i'm

told me a lot of welcome to our live coverage of the 2nd and final u.s. presidential debate with less than 2 weeks to go until election day president all trump and his democratic rival joe biden are about to go head to head in nashville tennessee both candidates arrived earlier today 23 days after they met for an ill tempered 1st debate that was littered with interruptions and insults now to avoid a repeat of that one new rule of engagement has been introduced for this evening microphones will be muted when a candidate is not supposed to speak biden and trump will face questions on 6 topics and those 6 topics are fighting covert 19 american families race in america climate change national security and leadership with the election day now only 12 days away this debate could be crucial in swaying any remaining undecided voters

and we have a team we have team coverage of this 2nd and final presidential debate joining me from washington is our correspondent sumi saw skandha and with me here in the studio is stacey evens from our u.s. election team let's start with sumi sumi what is on the line this evening could this debate swing the race in favor of one of the candidates. well 1st of all hi to you both tony and stacey and you know on the one hand there is a lot on the line and in this debate you have to think about the fact that this is the last opportunity that both of these candidates have to really speak directly to the american people on such a grand stage with so many viewers and so last opportunity have to really debate some of the key policy points that are important to voters and it's especially a lot on the line we should say for president trump you know he comes into this debate trailing in national polls by about 10 points at this point that is what the

latest polls are telling us also trailing in some of those key battleground states which we'll talk about as well states that he needs to win to pave the road back to the white house if you want to win reelection and another interesting fact that we have seen here today is that joe biden actually has about tripled the amount of money that donald trump's campaign does right now for spending in these remaining $12.00 days and that is important because that money is actually used for t.v. and suffer social media ads in some of those key battleground states and president trump's team has actually had to cancel some of the ads that they have planned whereas joe biden is going on a spending spree all of that being said we have to also keep in mind that 40000000 more than 40000000 people at this point have already cast their ballots and there aren't that many undecided voters as our number today between 2 and 8 percent of people are still undecided so a very small slice of the voting population here so although there is a lot on the line it's hard to imagine that there are that many voters for them to move in voters' opinions to move at this point. ok turning to stacey the 1st

presidential debate was chaotic when you saw the kind of speaking over each other the way interruptions it was name calling what should we expect this time around well you know sumi is right it's really the pressure is really on president trump right now and his camp is telling him to let joe biden speak they believe that if he is able to express what his views are that it might turn off your viewers or voters but trump is going to trump and so what that means is if we're looking at his behavior so far where he feels pressured he lashes out and he's been lurching from state to state many of which he won before wisconsin michigan pennsylvania the so-called blue wall that he was able to take from hillary clinton now he's trailing in those states and so he's throwing everything calling joe biden a criminal attacking kristen welker who's the moderator tonight these are things

that don't really play well for with voters at least they haven't so far but truck doesn't seem to be able to control himself so he might we might see more of the same even if we can't hear him speaking to a biden when the mikes are off he still might do that just to throw biden off and this might make biden weak at least this is what trump supporters think and so if biden can't express himself if he can't seem strong there thinking that this might suppress the vote or depress the vote it might make people who are probably leaning more towards joe biden but they're not sure if they're going to vote for him yet stay home and so that's what trump's thing is he's not really tried to reach out to black voters or latinos so much right he's trying to keep by in voters from coming to the polls and voting for him so more of the same from trump but what about biden do we expect more of the same from him as well biden was off the campaign trail this week focusing on the debate practicing for the different kinds of scenarios that president donald trump might throw at him. so we're going to what democrats

are hoping to see is a stronger joe biden now president barack obama was able to throw some red meat at the democratic base last night with his stump speech. pennsylvania in philadelphia but trump biden really needs to be as strong and more vocal and order to move voters ok sumi the last debate left many republicans unhappy with trump's performance should we expect you know a change i mean when when you look at things from his side you expect him to take on any you know advice from his teen. tell me i think that's really tough to say at this point i mean on the one hand what we have seen from republican strategists and advisers that they really have been coaching the president over the last week or so especially to really stay on message their message to him has been to tone down some of the aggression and some of the tone

that he had in the last debate that ended so poorly and that so many of us on both sides of the aisle were on turned off by were unhappy with and to really focus on some of the key issues where they feel that he can really come across strong one of them is the economy this is a point where they believe that most americans think the president is the right candidate to get the economy back on track it's also on the renegotiating trade deals putting america 1st it's also on the other big foreign policy issues so they want the president to really focus on those issues and push biden on taxes for example to push joe biden on where they believe some of his weak points may be but as stacy put it you know president trump really is his own campaign manager isn't he so he will follow the strategy that he deems best for this debate so we don't know yet if he's going to follow the advice but he certainly has received a lot of coaching and a history outages are hoping that he follows that path today. ok you know what let's pause for a 2nd and we'll get a bit more analysis from the 2 of you in just

a moment but 1st let's look at another issue that's bound to come up in tonight's debate that's not even on the official agenda and that's the appointment of amy coney barad to the supreme court the senate judiciary committee approved her nomination earlier on thursday now democrats boycotted the vote in protest at her rushed nomination a final vote though is expected on monday and if barrett is confirmed then she could be sworn in almost immediately. from the moment president donald trump presented his supreme court nominee amy kearney barrett has been one of the u.s. elections main figures the 48 year old catholic and former law professor has publicly opposed abortion and says the constitution shouldn't be reinterpreted. but that senate confirmation hearings kone barrett said she believed judges should stay out of politics. judges can't just wake up one day and say i have an agenda i like

guns i hate guns i like abortion and i hate abortion and walk in like a royal queen and impose their will on the world you have to wait for cases and controversies such as the language of the constitution to wind their way through the process. democrats worry kone barrett would rule against the affordable care act their signature health insurance reform and that she could hand trump another term if the supreme court decides the election but under questioning by senators tony barrett refused to reveal her views on major issues and that climate change is happening and it's reckoning the air we breathe and the water we drink and i will not do that i will not express a view on a matter of public policy especially one that is politically controversial because that's inconsistent with the judicial role as i have explained. opponents argued that a justice shouldn't be appointed to an election. this vacancy should not be

filled until we have a new president progressives have been fired up by kone barrett's nomination worried it could skew the supreme court in a conservative direction for years which is exactly what her conservative supporters hope for republicans have already filled 5 of the supreme court's 9 lifetime held seats if appointed kone barrett will continue to influence us politics for years to come. now stacy bevins is still with me here in studio and so we saw scandal in washington and where seeing pictures live from the presidential debate the 1st lady melania trump has arrived there just a couple of moments ago but will continue with a conversation and catch up with with what's going on there but 1st of all just going back to what we've just seen now about the supreme court.

sumi. how is the supreme court nomination likely to fit to feature in tonight's debate. well tony i think that if president trump were to follow the strategy that's been laid out for him it should play a big role in tonight's debate and that is because this is seen as a huge victory for president truck he has had the unique opportunity to nominate 3 justices to the supreme court as we heard in that report that can completely change the balance of the court and would if barry is is confirmed which is why they expected of course because the republicans have the majority in the senate and this is something that is extremely popular not just with president trump's you know fervent base but also broadly among republicans and conservatives evangelicals who see president trump really as the defender of christian values in any kone barrett as a face of those christian values so if president can really bring attention back to another one of these crucial victories appointing another supreme court justice someone who will as i said change the balance of the court for years to come in and

completely shape conservative policy in america for years to come he would be very successful with doing that but we don't know if he's going to focus on that point. you mentioned christian christian world who's going to be the host of the program and we just see the debate which is you know coming up right now. she has she will make history as the 1st black woman to moderate a presidential debate. to tell us more about her well she is a widely respected journalist for n.b.c. news and she's been working for the white covering the white house for quite some time and she's been under attack by president donald trump already her integrity he's saying that she's not going to be fair to him she's going to be worse than anybody else and so this is something that's just another reason why black women are turned off by donald trump intro. last week we saw trump and biden hold separate debates respectively on n.b.c.

and a.b.c. and it seems like biden got more attention than trump what do you make of that. well i mean let's remember what got us to that point we had this very odd kind of split screen dueling town hall debate scenario because president trumpet contracted covert 19 he then refused to take part in a virtual debate and so that you had these 2 separate town hall debates and i think you know afterwards and today even campaign manager manager actually admitted that that was actually a big mistake for president trying to refuse to take part in a virtual debate because he got 1000000 fewer viewers than joe biden did that being said i'm not sure that either of those town hall debates were that convincing in terms of bringing new voters on board i mean they really were a study of the contrast of the characters of these 2 men and how different they are as leaders as well you know joe biden on the one hand giving these long almost professorial answers and president trump really on the tap attack facing off

against the n.b.c. moderator savannah guthrie and so because of that it's not really clear whether either candidate benefited from those town hall debates and all it did for me really from my perspective is set the stage for tonight we're going to have 2 very different candidates with 2 very different approaches facing off again on the same stage. some you just referenced the president's health. how much is that going to play into the proceedings tonight will cope itself is going to be center stage we're going to be reminded of it because there are social distance and if you just look at the numbers right now more than 222000 americans have died from from coded and there's a recent study by columbia university that puts the blame strongly president saying that had he had his administration handled it better that up to $210000.00 americans would have survived so that they died needlessly so this is going to be front and center and if joe biden a smart it's going to continue to press down on him to answer those questions and

one of the crucial things you know overall that we should look for tonight well other than kobe there's things that are related like the economy donald trump wanted to. and on the economy because he thought that that was his strong suit now there's millions of americans that are unemployed and receiving benefits millions more that are waiting for help because the relief package has not got has not been approved or agreed upon quite yet. and also race in america is going to be big because covert and race for the 2 main issues and so you have one politician who says race there's no systematic racism in another that says if there is so we'll see what happens tonight.