WASHROOM
CORONAVIRUS: THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX
Professional cleaning industry writer, Robert Kravitz, reflects on the research guiding the fight against Covid-19.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) is predominantly spread from person to person because the germs become airborne and are then inhaled. This is why we are told to keep six feet from each other, why schools and meetings are being closed or canceled in the UK and why businesses are asking staff to work remotely – preferably at home.
We do hear some information that it can be transmitted by touching surfaces, but that appears to be taking a back seat to inhalation. However, we should be putting the fact that it can be transmitted by touching surfaces at the forefront of the agenda, says Marc Ferguson at Kaivac, manufacturer of professional cleaning equipment explicitly designed to clean for health.
“[For instance] new evidence from China, where the epidemic began, indicates it can also follow a fecal-oral route, just like so many other viruses and diseases,” he says.
The study Ferguson is referencing was conducted by Dr. Hong Shan, with the Fifth Affiliated Hospital, at Sun Yat-Sen University in Zhuhai, China. This hospital was founded in 1924 and is considered one of China’s preeminent medical research centers.
Dr. Shan was in the news before because he was one of the first doctors to recognise that the SARS virus that impacted Hong Kong in the early 2000s could also be transmitted via the fecal-oral route.
According to Shan’s research, the following was uncovered:
• Many of the first victims of COVID-19 in China were first admitted to hospitals complaining of abdominal pain. They were experiencing this pain before they developed respiratory distress and were later diagnosed with COVID-19.
• The genetic material associated with the coronavirus, RNA, was detectable in fecal samples.
• Fecal-oral transmission can last even after a patent has recovered from the virus.
Commenting on the research, Peter Hotez, MD, at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas said that many of the patients in China that later were diagnosed with COVID-19, “were [first] admitted to surgical wards and thought to have abdominal emergencies.”
This is further indication that the virus may follow the fecal- oral route, according to Ferguson. So, aware of this, what should we do?
In the U.K. and other parts of the world, we are being urged repeatedly to wash our hands and do so frequently and
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thoroughly. Most of us are doing this, however, possibly not as often as we should.
Recently, a man in New York reported what it was like to get the disease, which he said was horrible. As to how he got it, he says he shook hands with a man in a theater who was later diagnosed with the disease. He had not washed his hands afterward or used a hand sanitizer.
This means the cleaning industry is going to be needed now more than ever to help keep surfaces clean and healthy. One way is to use disinfectants properly by adhering to proper dwell times, cleaning first then disinfecting and using a disinfectant recommended to fight this disease.
However, this may not be enough. Because of the urgency of the situation, cleaning professionals throughout the U.K. are urged to look for cleaning alternatives. One platform getting much more attention because of its effectiveness in North America is the use of no-touch cleaning systems. With the no-touch system, cleaning solution is applied to surfaces, which are then powerfully but gently rinsed clean. The system then vacuums up all moisture and pathogens.
While the developer of no-touch technology does not recommend it, early tests have found that these systems can hygienically clean surfaces without the use of disinfectants.
“We should view these tests as just indicating the effectiveness of no-touch cleaning,” adds Ferguson. “The takeaway, however, is that the cleaning industry must now think outside the box. If more effective [cleaning] technologies in fighting COVID-19 are available, we should use them.”
www.kaivac.com
twitter.com/TomorrowsFM
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