Mops, COVID, and Green Cleaning Answering common questions By Drew Bunn R
ECENTLY, I GAVE A VIRTUAL presentation to a local Chamber of Commerce. The topic: COVID and Cleaning. About 50 people attended, and the organi-
zations they represented ran the gamut. There were dentists, lawyers, several managers of banks, facility managers, and at least three public and private school administrators. Regarding how the coronavirus is spread, I pointed out
that most studies now indicate it travels primarily from one person to another via inhalation. However, I also indicated that the pathogens that cause the disease can collect on surfaces, and if those surfaces are touched — and then we touch our face or the food we are about to consume — there is a possibility we can contract the virus. This was confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) earlier in the year. The CDC reported that while the coronavirus “does not
spread easily” through touching surfaces or objects, it still “may be possible” to pass on the virus from contaminated surfaces. During the presentation, we also discussed an issue
that has not received much attention —pathogens causing the virus can and do collect on floors. A study team at the Huoshenshan Hospital in Wuhan, China, one of the first hospitals in the world to treat those infected with the dis- ease, reported the following:
Floor swabs had a high rate of positive tests, potentially due to virus droplets falling on the ground. Half of the ICU staff’s shoes also tested
positive. Also, as medical staff walks around [the hospital], the virus can be tracked over floors, as indicated by the 100 percent rate of positivity
from the floor in the pharmacy, where there were no patients1.
I added that cleaning professionals should always bring two pairs of shoes with them when they work: one pair to wear in and out of the facility and another to wear while cleaning in the facility. These “working shoes” should be removed and washed after each shift. Washing them will prevent any remaining pathogens from being walked into the next facil- ity or the cleaning professional’s own home. This raised another question: Should we continue to
clean floors with mops now that we know coronavirus drop- lets can collect on floors? To address this floor/mop quandary, the following are some of the points I made and the questions I was asked:
Do mops collect soils and pathogens? It has been scientifically proven in studies2,3,4, mostly in hos- pitals, that mops and mop water collect pathogens during the mopping process and then spread these pathogens to other floor surfaces.
Green Teacher 126 Page 39
Photo courtesy of Kaivac
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