Ace was getting ready for the California shutdown tomorrow of doubles tennis in all California COVID19 Purple tiers when he came across this bit of encouraging news.
Early on in the pandemic, when little was known about the virus, it was thought mainly to be transmitted by people touching objects upon which it had landed. Many wondered if one could catch it from sports balls - footballs, soccer balls, baseballs, tennis balls, etc., but, no one had done any research to see if it was true or not.
Well, it turns out some research scientists had the same question - I don't know if they play tennis or not - and ran some experiments with deactivated viruses to find out.
What they found was that, yes, the virus can be detected on tennis balls, but, after rolling around, bouncing, etc., it all disappears from the ball. So, the chances of picking it up by touching your balls (gee, I ALWAYS laugh when I say that for some reason) is minimal.
But, you can still get it if your opponent or doubles partner sneezes in your face I guess.
Anyway, here's a link to the paper published in PubMed Central (PMC) at the U.S. National Institute of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM).
It's a tough read at times - I suppose because these research guys got into science because they never learned how to tell a story in simple terms.
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