Your Sanitizers Aren't Working on Coronavirus for This Very Important Reason

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Cleaners, sanitizers, and disinfectants: we tend to think of these surface cleaning products interchangeably, but knowing the difference between them is more important than ever during the coronavirus pandemic. As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) points out, only one of these home-cleansing categories is proven to kill coronavirus, and most Americans don't know which it is.

Think of it like this: cleaners, sanitizers, and disinfectants are tested to three different standards of rigor—cleaning products being the least rigorously tested, sanitizers being the middle ground, and disinfectants being the gold standard.

While cleaners can remove things like dirt and grime, they don't necessarily kill bacteria or viruses. Products are classified as sanitizers if they kill bacteria (the particulars of which will be listed on the product's label), but have not been proven to kill viruses. Finally, products classified as disinfectants have been thoroughly tested and proven to kill both viruses and bacteria.

The EPA explains that confusion has emerged because some products are classified as both sanitizers and disinfectants, but are only labeled as sanitizers. These products have actually been tested to both standards, and many of these can in fact kill COVID-19. However, this has led many people to assume that all sanitizers kill coronavirus, a dangerous misconception.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/medical/your-sanitizers-arent-working-on-coronavirus-for-this-very-important-reason/ar-BB164Hqd?li=BBnb7Kz

[blue neen]

1. Good info.

Very helpful.

[LisaL]

3. Basically, you can't go wrong with lysol or clorox disinfectant. If you can find them.

[blue neen]

4. The article points to the products that work the fastest.

Some are pretty quick!

[LAS14]

2. If the product is labeled as killing 99% of bacteria and viruses, can you believe it? nt

[ProfessorGAC]

5. Yes

Those products are making a health/medical claim.
Therefore they are registered under EPA & approved by FDA.
They get neither the registration or the approval without data following specific challenge protocols.
Most of the disinfectant companies exceed the efficacy on the label by an order of magnitude.
IOW, if it reads 99%, then they have data showing it's likely closer to 99.9%.
If it says "on contact", the agencies consider that to be the time it takes for the solvent system (mostly water and isopropanol) to evaporate. Again, the formulas are designed to hit the stated efficacy in less time than it takes to evaporate.
Legally, they cannot make a health claim, ON THE LABEL, that is unsupported by data.
And they have to play an honest game. Their competitors are buying product off the shelf to compare their own product vs the other brand.
If they found the claim was unsupported, they would report it because, a) it's required by law & b) it's smart business.
If they label OR advertise efficacy as a disinfectant, it sure better work.
The legal entanglements could be immense.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. This is good info. I'm still having a hard time finding these products, however.

I'm surprised that supply still can't keep up with demand.

[LiberalArkie]

8. My goto was rubbing alcohol, but that can't be found... Have to shift to PGA..

[Doreen]

7. Not having anything to do with COVID I did learn this many years ago.

I learned this from being a custodian in a school district. The problem now is that many schools have gone to natural cleaners because the chemical is bad. Well, I will tell you. The natural stuff does not even make things look clean and sanitizing is not one of the things that it does. When we started using the natural stuff kids started getting sick more often and the school was loosing out on money every day for each kid that was not in school.

On top of that the administration tried to blame the custodians for not doing their jobs. We started using bleach anyway again after the administration and teachers went home. Well, at least the other custodian in the building I was in did also. I do not think the custodians in the other buildings did. The grade school started having fewer sick kids.

[Laelth]

9. Sodium hypochlorite (bleach) will kill anything.

Including you if you take a bath in it. I use a bleach/water solution for my sanitizing. There’s no need to spend extra bucks on some specialized, mass-marketed product. Bleach is cheap, and it works.

-Laelth

[Phoenix61]

10. If the stores are out check with the local pool supply.

Just be careful. That stuff will eat holes in your clothes while your wearing them.