Cleaning & Disinfecting Pathogens and Their Lifespans

With COVID-19 still looming across the United States and in the Metro East region, many businesses are facing questions about their cleaning and disinfecting procedures. In the past many businesses would use a casual wipe down to clean and disinfect the hot spot areas. It’s clear though that those practices can’t be done anymore and a more stringent cleaning & disinfecting routine has to be adopted.

How long to germs live on surfaces?

Most people have heard from their mothers or grandmothers that you’ll catch a cold by not having a jacket on in cold weather. As much as we want to believe that it’s not how people get sicknesses. Colds, flu and caused by a virus and not amount of bundling up in cold weather will prevent it. Catching a cold or flu comes from being near someone that has the virus. Colds cause irritation in your throat and your nasal passageways. For most people, this means a lot of sneezing and coughing and runny noses which can spread the virus quickly. Many viruses can live for up to seven days though they are only infectious for 24 hours typically. Disinfecting surfaces can help reduce the spread of illnesses.

How long does COVID-19 live on surfaces?

The flu virus which is influenza A and Influenza B can survive and remain infectious on hard surfaces for 24-48 hours. If you send someone home from the office on Monday morning, that doorknob they touched on the way out will still be a hazard by Wednesday morning. On cloth, paper and tissues, influenza can survive for less than 12 hours. On skin, it survives even less, often minutes.

The good news is that the influenza virus is not very hard to kill. Chlorine, hydrogen peroxide, soap, iodine-based antiseptics and alcohols can kill all type of flu viruses.

How long does COVID-19 live on surfaces?

SARS-CoV-2 which is the Coronavirus that causes COVID-19 indicates that it can stay alive on surfaces for hours or even days depending on the type of surface. Early studies show that it can survive up to 4 hours on copper, 24 hours on cardboard, and up to to or three weeks on plastic and steel depending on conditions.

More recently though, scientists look at the temperature at which the virus can and can’t survive. In colder temperatures, the Coronavirus can last for days. In some studies, the virus lasted for 28 days at temperatures of 68 degrees or less. These were from earlier studies, Coronavirus studies done more recently like this one in Medical News Today suggest that these times are a little different as we continue to study the virus more. The most important part of dealing with Coronaviruses is combating it with proper cleaning and disinfecting practices in your facility.

Importance of disinfecting against other pathogens other than COVID-19

While pathogens like influenza, MRSA, C.auris and more are a real and present threat to the general public. These type of pathogens spread through a variety of ways. Each one of these pathogens must be guarded against with the appropriate cleaning and disinfecting services in our area. If you and your staff don’t have a cleaning regiment in place to clean and disinfect surfaces that are commonly and not commonly touched, you might be putting your employee and guests at risk.

At Grimebusters, we have years of experience in working in schools, colleges, medical facilities and government buildings and more. Our staff are well trained in proper disinfecting practices to not just clean but to kill germs, bacteria and viruses on surfaces throughout your facility. Give us a call or email us here.