I'm no expert so don't treat my comments as health advice, but viruses are large complex molecules and they don't tend to survive intact very long outside of living cells, do they?
When smallpox was eradicated, the WHO organized teams to collect and destroy samples of smallpox used in remote places for variolation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variolation#Decline IIRC the samples they found were too old and did not contain viable virus, but they were afraid they could start a new smallpox epidemic. So ... I guess they think virus can survive for a long time.
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I am aware, that ageing has a positive effects with regard to food safety. What I'm less certain of is if this is also true for viruses.
I'm no expert so don't treat my comments as health advice, but viruses are large complex molecules and they don't tend to survive intact very long outside of living cells, do they?
When smallpox was eradicated, the WHO organized teams to collect and destroy samples of smallpox used in remote places for variolation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variolation#Decline IIRC the samples they found were too old and did not contain viable virus, but they were afraid they could start a new smallpox epidemic. So ... I guess they think virus can survive for a long time.