Bay State News

The city of Cambridge, Massachusetts, recently banned reusable grocery bags due to COVID-19 after realizing that single-use plastic bags are safest when it comes to the virus, Wicked Local - Cambridge reported.

The city made a temporary emergency order that restricts people from bringing reusable bags into businesses and the order will remain in effect until further notice, the news media reported. 

Cambridge will continue to allow for no fees to be associated with retail establishment bags. The state's reusable bag prohibition was rescinded July 10, but then Cambridge issued its order July 14, according to Wicked Local.

The city believes that if the reusable bags have not been sufficiently disinfected, they could cause COVID-19 to spread at retailers citywide. The city noted that although it is committed to recycling, the single-use bags are currently the safer of the two options when it comes to minimizing COVID-19.

A study referenced in the New England Journal of Medicine earlier this year found that COVID-19 stays on reusable bags for as long as three days, D.C. Business Daily reported.

In the study researchers looked at how long SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 lasted on different surfaces. SARS-CoV-2 causes the coronavirus.

Neeltje van Doremalen and Trenton Bushmaker of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in Hamilton, Montana, and Dylan H. Morris of Princeton University were the principal authors of the study. The authors tested both viruses on different surfaces in aerosols, such as stainless steel, copper, plastic and cardboard. They found that when it's in its aerosol form, it remains active for three hours and can be detected for up to three days on those materials, according to Wicked Local.

The study notes that the plastic in question was polypropylene, which is what reusable bags are made of.