Coronavirus at beaches? Surfers, swimmers should stay
away, scientist says
Rosanna Xia
,
Kim Prather, a leading atmospheric
chemist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, wants to yell out her
window at every surfer, runner, and biker she spots along the San Diego coast.
“I wouldn't go in the water if you
paid me $1 million right now,” she said.
The beach, in her estimation, is one
of the most dangerous places to be these days, as the novel coronavirus marches
silently across California.
Many beachgoers know they can suffer skin rashes,
stomach illness and serious ear and respiratory infections if they go into the
water within three days of a heavy rain, because of bacteria and pathogens
washing off roads and into the ocean. Raw or poorly treated sewage entering the
ocean also poses major health risks.
Prather fears that SARS-CoV-2, the
virus that causes COVID-19, could enter coastal waters in similar ways and
transfer back into the air along the coast.
In her research, Prather has found
that the ocean churns up all kinds of particulate and microscopic pathogens,
and every time the ocean sneezes with a big wave or two, it sprays these
particles into the air. She believes that this new coronavirus is light enough
to float through the air much farther than we think. The six-feet physical
distancing rule, she said, doesn't apply at the beach, where coastal winds can
get quite strong and send viral particles soaring.
“It's not going to kill you if you
miss a few surfing sessions, but it could if you go out there and get in the
wrong air," she said.
“You can't see the virus, you can't
smell it ... It's a real silent killer right now.”
Scientists across the globe are
scrambling to learn the basic characteristics of the virus, and so far, neither
the World Health Organization, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention nor local health agencies have warned that the virus can be spread
by ocean spray or coastal breezes. However, they have warned that it can be
spread by droplets from sneezes and coughs, and by coming into contact with it
on surfaces.
And though the virus has been detected
in sewage, scientists are still investigating whether it remains infectious in
fecal matter — and whether it survives treatment in a wastewater facility.
People walk along the beach in
Coronado, which is among the few remaining beaches open in San Diego County on
March 29, 2020. (K.C. Alfred/The San Diego Union-Tribune)
In the eyes of California health
officials, beaches pose a health threat by drawing large crowds of people who
will congregate too closely and trigger a chain of infections.
It hasn’t been easy keeping
Californians off the beach even with
those concerns, despite stay-at-home orders and officials urging the public to
avoid crowding popular areas. By now most beaches, trails and parks in
California have been roped off in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19,
which has overwhelmed hospitals and
escalated medical emergencies across the nation and world.
Even the Coastal Commission, usually
the gatekeeper of California’s landmark law that declares
access to the beach is a fundamental right, is allowing local officials to
put up temporary signs and barricades — citing the emergency need to protect
public health and safety.
Patrol cars and loudspeakers can be
heard blasting social distancing rules along Ocean Avenue in Santa Monica. In
Manhattan Beach, a surfer was slapped with a $1,000 fine
after he ignored numerous warnings by police and lifeguards cautioning him not
to go in the water.
The Hermosa Beach Police Department
closed off the strand. (Jay L. Clendenin/ Los Angeles Times)Prather, who
directs the Center for Aerosol Impacts on Chemistry of the Environment, a large
research hub at Scripps backed by $40 million from the National Science
Foundation, sent her researchers and students home long before California
officials issued stay-at-home orders. She suspected this virus was contagious
by air, and knew from past studies that coronaviruses can be excreted in fecal
matter. She worries SARS-CoV-2 could enter the ocean from sewage spills and
outfalls, and then reenter the atmosphere..................Keep reading
below....
Wastewater treatment plants don’t
necessarily deactivate viruses before sending the sewage into the ocean — they
tend to target bacteria like E. Coli, she said. And in areas like Imperial
Beach, sewage from the Tijuana River often spills into the ocean completely
untreated.
Coronaviruses are encased by what
she calls a “hydrophobic” lipid, or fatty, membrane. Fat tends to float to the
surface of water, similar to oil in a vinaigrette dressing. When waves break in
the surf zone and all the foam and bubbles pop, Prather said, “all that stuff —
the viruses, the bacteria, pollutants, all the gooey, oily stuff — just
launches into the air."
The ocean, in fact, is the largest
natural source of aerosol particles after dust. These marine aerosols affect
the formation of clouds over the ocean and can spread over large distances.
Once in the air, studies have shown
that aerosols can travel around the globe in as little as two weeks. Prather
has found dust in microbes from Africa that changed the snowfall in California.
She’s been tracing the bacteria and sewage pollution dumped into the ocean from
the Tijuana River, showing how much ends up transferring to the atmosphere.
“Once things are in the air, they
can go pretty darn far. People are shocked whenever I talk about stuff becoming
airborne,” she said. “I see pictures of the beach shut down, and the signs tell
you don’t walk on the beach, don't swim, don't surf, but nobody tells you:
Don't breathe.”
Scientists are still debating the
characteristics of this latest coronavirus. Recent research in the New England
Journal of Medicine found that when the virus was suspended in a mist under
laboratory conditions, it remained “viable and infectious” for three hours —
though researchers have said that time period would probably be no more than
half an hour in real-world conditions.
Charles Gerba, a professor of
microbiology at the University of Arizona who has studied coronaviruses in
wastewater since the SARS outbreak, said these kinds of viruses have typically
been found to survive two or three days in raw sewage.
With this new coronavirus, he’s done
a few molecular tests: Though he’s confirmed that the virus does wind up in
sewage, he found that more than 90% of this new coronavirus was removed by
typical wastewater treatment —“it's very sensitive to disinfectants.”
Still up for debate, however, is
whether the virus in the sewage is still infectious.
“One report says yes, another report
says no, so we don't really know yet for certain,” said Gerba, whose research
focuses on wastewater removal of viral pathogens. As for how long the virus
could survive in saltwater, there's not much data, he said, but pathogens like
hepatitis A or norovirus tend to survive much longer in wild environments.
For Prather, she hopes to fill in
more data gaps and is preparing to test the air particles along the coast for
signs of the virus — especially in areas known for inconsistent water quality.
“People kept saying respiratory
droplets and surfaces, surfaces, surfaces, but I just felt like no way, this is
something special,” she said. “This thing is so contagious …. Look at that choir in Washington —
those people weren’t coughing. They were just singing! But it got so many of
them.”
In the meantime, California beaches
are likely to remain close to empty. Even beach advocacy groups have joined the
Coastal Commission in urging people to avoid crowding the beaches and ocean.
Fresh air and connecting with
the outdoors are important, they said, but these are extraordinary times.
Some people worry the temporary
closures could lead to permanent beaches behind lock and key — public beach
access, after all, has been a contentious battle along
the coast for decades. Coastal officials say they’ve been keeping track of
which beaches have closed, and city and county leaders have been told that
access restrictions expire immediately whenever shelter-in-place orders are
lifted.
"We recognize there is an
inequity in coastal access and we strongly encourage local governments to
consider approaches that balance public health order requirements and equitable
public access — the coast belongs to all," Jack Ainsworth, the coastal
commission's executive director, wrote in a letter to local officials.
Surfrider Foundation, one of the
most passionate public access groups in California, assured beachgoers that
they will be out in full force once the restrictions are lifted to ensure that
no oceanfront property owners took advantage of this unprecedented situation.
“We in California have fought for
open beaches for decades,” said Jennifer Savage, Surfrider’s policy manager in
California. “But we also believe in being responsible citizens and protecting
the health and safety of our community.
"Right now, you can be the
difference between life and death for somebody you don’t know.”
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