Understanding Viruses and Combating Covid-19

In an age of such advanced medicine and scientific progress as ours, it can be easy to forget that we are still vulnerable to even the smallest, microscopic threat. The era of Covid-19 has become a brutal reminder. Regardless of any vaccines or cures that scientists develop, the human population will likely always be susceptible to some kind of pathogen, whether viruses or bacteria. So we should continually strive to educate ourselves on best practices in fighting contamination, no matter our field of work or area of the world we live in.

Especially if you live or work in any kind of public space, such as office buildings, apartment complexes, healthcare facilities, schools, and other community resources, it’s important to know how to properly clean and disinfect both surfaces and the air. Building managers who may be in charge of cleaning and maintenance need to be aware of how dangerous pathogenic microorganisms spread and how they can be destroyed.

Understanding Viruses vs. Bacteria

To achieve that, we have to start with an understanding of what these pathogens are. We are talking viruses vs. bacteria here. Bacteria are single-celled living creatures that can survive on their own in different types of environments (extreme heat and cold, radioactive waste, the human body). But they do not need a host to survive. They reproduce on their own. Viruses, on the other hand, are a collection of molecules, not a living thing. All they are is a core of genetic material surrounded by a protein coat. They do need a host to survive, and they reproduce by attaching themselves to a living cell.

Viruses can be divided into two groups: enveloped and non-enveloped. Enveloped viruses are coated by a lipid or fat layer. This makes them quite fragile and easy to kill. You don’t always need a harsh chemical disinfectant. In many cases, simple hand soap will do the trick. This is because the soap forms something called a micelle, which is a collection of molecules that attaches to dirt and pulls it away without being dissolved in the water. That’s why handwashing has been so critical to fighting Covid-19; the soap penetrates the coronavirus and the act of scrubbing pulls it off the skin.

Examples of Viruses

Some other examples of enveloped viruses include SARS, measles, the flu, and Ebola. Enveloped viruses are mainly the ones that have made worldwide headlines by triggering epidemics in recent years.

Non-enveloped viruses, which don’t have that lipid or fat layer, are more responsible for random, everyday outbreaks, like the common cold. They include rotavirus and norovirus, among others. However, they can be harder to kill. That is why it’s important to select the right disinfectant and chemical concentration to be sure it’s effective against the specific virus. Not all pathogens can be killed by the same chemical.

Bacteria can be just as dangerous as viruses. While there are good bacteria that exist naturally in the human body and benefit us, such as the bacteria in your stomach that help you digest food, the dangerous bacteria can be painful and difficult to kill. Some examples are E. coli, salmonella, C. diff, and MRSA. C. diff is notorious for being the hardest to kill, and both it and MRSA tend to be especially problematic for healthcare facilities. For anyone in charge of cleaning and maintaining a public facility, it is important to adhere to correct chemical concentrations to ensure that these bacteria are targeted effectively.

How They Spread: Surface and Air

In addition to knowing what you are targeting — a virus vs. bacteria — you also need to know how it spreads in order to fight it. Some pathogens spread primarily through the air; respiratory viruses are top of the list here (that includes Covid-19). Others are more transmittable via contact with surfaces. For example, noroviruses can survive for weeks on surfaces, making them highly infectious. By contrast, colds and flu only survive a few hours or days on surfaces, but we all know how easy they are to spread — respiratory droplets in the air migrate from person to person. So when selecting the proper disinfectant, you need to consider whether the pathogen is more transmissible on high-contact surfaces or through the air.

Trust The Experts

Experts stress the importance of limiting contact when dealing with respiratory pathogens, especially to fight against Covid-19. They also emphasize cleaning and disinfecting daily. Cleaning staff should be trained to clean a surface first, then disinfect. They are, in fact, two different things, and each has its purpose.

Cleaning physically removes dirt and germs from a surface. It primes the surface for the next step in fighting Covid-19 and other viruses — disinfecting. If a surface is not cleaned before disinfecting, the remaining soils can act as a barrier to germs hidden underneath. These pathogens may then escape contact with the disinfectant, which has the purpose of actually killing them. Lingering dirt on the surface can still contribute to the growth of harmful microbes if the surface has only been disinfected, not cleaned first. Disinfecting to fight Covid-19, for example, becomes much more effective once the surface has been cleaned.

Fight Back

Understanding how viruses survive and spread is a critical factor in combating Covid-19. We should all do our part to prevent community spread by frequent handwashing and limiting contact with sick people. It’s especially important for building administrators and other public maintenance personnel to know which products to use on the type of pathogen they are eradicating. Not all disinfectants kill all types of viruses. Transmission method can affect this factor. Educating yourself on how the pathogen is spread — contact with surfaces or through the air — is an important first step in selecting the right cleaning products and disinfectants. Fighting viruses such as Covid-19 with the right weapons is the only way to ensure our survival against such a mighty but tiny enemy.