How Long Do Cold and Flu Germs Live on Surfaces? (2025)

The common cold and diseases like influenza are caused by germs called viruses. These germs are infectious and can stay on surfaces and make you sick if they enter your body.

How long they can "live" (remain infectious) on a surface varies. Some cold and flu viruses can remain infectious on certain surfaces for over a week, but typically, it's more like a few hours. The type of surface, temperature, amount of virus, and even the type of virus can impact how long a germ remains infectious on a surface.

Viruses are more likely to remain infectious longer on hard surfaces like stainless steel and plastic. Germs are often found on surfaces touched regularly, including door knobs, sink faucets, and plastic toys.

Factors That Affect How Long Cold and Flu Germs Last on Surfaces

Several different types of viruses cause the common cold. These include rhinoviruses, coronaviruses, adenoviruses, and parainfluenza viruses.

Influenza viruses (A and B), cause the seasonal flu.Other viruses, like respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19, are also common during winter.

Viruses have unique properties, including how long they survive and remain infectious on surfaces, which vary among individual pathogens. They also differ in how you can catch them, how long you're sick, and what symptoms you get.

The length of time a virus remains infectious on a surface depends on factors such as:

• The virus structure: Some viruses are more vulnerable to temperature and humidity due to their structure.
• The environment: This includes factors such as humidity, airflow, exposure to sunlight, and temperature. For example, the common cold virus is more infectious at lower temperatures, so it peaks in colder seasons.
• The surface: Most cold and flu viruses remain infectious longer on hard surfaces like metal, plastic, and glass. Cold viruses on cloth or paper tend to dry out quickly. However, the opposite can be true for other virus types, like norovirus, which survives well on carpet.
• How many viral particles land on the surface: When deposited in large numbers, it's more likely that some viruses survive long enough for you to pick them up.
• If the virus was trapped in mucus: Bodily fluids such as mucus can keep the virus hydrated longer, which protects it from breaking down.

Time of Viral Contagiousness on Surfaces

Generally, cold and flu viruses can infect someone after they have been on a surface for several hours.

How long cold germs can live on surfaces is variable; for example:

• Studies have found that rhinoviruses (which can cause the common cold) can live on hard, nonporous surfaces for several hours to days in some cases. They live about four hours on soft, porous surfaces like fabric, tissues, and skin.
• The virus that causes COVID-19 may be able to live on surfaces for as long as seven days, according to a 2023 review of studies.
• Adenoviruses (viruses that can cause a cold) are more resistant than some and can survive on hard surfaces for days to weeks. They can persist in water and on medical instruments for extended periods.
• The flu virus can be infectious for up to nine hours, especially on nonporous surfaces.

How Viruses Spread

When you're sick with a cold or flu, you release tiny respiratory droplets containing the virus as you sniff, sneeze, blow your nose, or cough. These droplets spread through the air to surfaces or to others in the area.

The most likely way to acquire a virus in droplet form is through surfaces. You could pick up the virus if you touch a surface where droplets have recently landed. If you then touch your eyes, nose, or mouth, you may give yourself the virus.

Another way to pick up a virus is through handshaking and other forms of touch with another person. Not washing hands and, potentially, removing the germs on them before eating or touching your face could lead to an infection.

What About Airborne and Human Transmission?

Technically, the spread of a virus in droplets is not "airborne" transmission. When a virus is airborne, it forms smaller particles (aerosols) that can stay in the air for longer and travel farther than droplets. You can breathe them in even if you're far from their source, while droplets are larger and only travel a few meters (or yards) at most.

Airborne viruses can travel up to 30 feet and hang in the air for hours. Some studies have suggested that viruses like influenza, rhinovirus, and adenoviruses can be transmitted through the air. Other respiratory viruses, such as RSV and SARS-CoV-2, are also considered airborne.

Once exposed to a virus, whether it's through the air or a droplet on a surface, the virus may infect your cells and use them to duplicate. Most respiratory viruses will make you sick within a day or so. You can usually transmit a virus to others as soon as you feel symptoms, and sometimes even before.

The most common cold viruses peak in contagiousness around day two or three after the start of symptoms. You are less likely to pass the virus on once you start feeling better and no longer have a fever without taking medicine to bring down a fever. However, you should take precautions, like vigorous handwashing and disinfecting surfaces, for at least five days.

These timelines are slightly different for each respiratory virus. They also depend on how sick you are and how long you are ill, which can differ from person to person.

How to Protect Yourself at Home

Washing your hands and cleaning surfaces are two of the best ways to prevent the spread of a virus in your home.

To lower your chances of getting sick, do the following:

• Disinfect commonly touched hard surfaces, like sink handles, door knobs, keyboards, light switches, and phones.
• Use a disinfectant, liquid soap, 1% bleach, antimicrobial or antiviral wipes, or hydrogen peroxide approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
• Wash your hands often and for 30 seconds each time, drying with a clean paper towel and disposing of it instead of wiping hands on a shared cloth towel.
• Do not share cups, eating utensils, towels, or bedding with someone who is or may be sick.
• Clear the air by opening doors and windows and running an air purifier with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter.

How to Protect Yourself in Public

The best way to protect yourself from germs in public is to avoid picking them up.

Here are some key steps you can take to protect yourself from cold and flu viruses in public:

• Use proper handwashing techniques. Children and adults should wash their hands after wiping their nose, sneezing, coughing, and using the bathroom. Wash your hands before eating and preparing food. Dry your hands with paper towels instead of cloth towels.
• If soap is unavailable, use hand sanitizers containing at least 60% alcohol to kill germs.
• Avoid crowds. Germs spread quickly wherever people gather—in childcare centers, stores, and restaurants and on public transportation.
• Keep your distance from other people, especially if they are noticeably sick.
• Wear a mask, particularly an N95 or KN95 face mask, which protects you from breathing in droplets and airborne viruses in crowded spaces or around sick people. Masks filter viruses from the air to reduce the number of germs you breathe in.
• Boost your immune system with the seasonal flu vaccine and any other recommended vaccines.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, or mouth when you're out of the house and haven't washed your hands.

Summary

Viruses cause the common cold and flu. They can persist on surfaces long enough to infect people.

The time a virus survives (remains infectious) on a surface varies. Factors such as temperature, humidity, surface type, and the virus itself play a role. Viruses survive longer on hard surfaces like stainless steel and plastic, up to 48 hours. Softer, porous materials like fabric limit their survival to a few hours.

Viruses spread through respiratory droplets released when coughing, sneezing, or talking. The droplets settle on surfaces or are transferred via touch, and they can cause infections when a person touches their face. Some viruses are airborne and can remain suspended for hours, traveling up to 30 feet.

Regular handwashing and disinfecting surfaces help prevent infection. HEPA filters, masks, social distancing, and vaccines also help prevent viruses in public.