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We are all getting people to wash hands with soapy water for 20 seconds min or a 65% alcohol hand gel. Door handles and the like are cleaned using disinfectant. But what about electronic equipment ie the photocopier, mobile phones, even car keys to a pool car. What are people doing with these items that may not take kindly to being soaped up or covered in disinfectant? Some of our managers have reported using Anti-bacterial wipes from supermarkets. I know it is not a bacterium, but are these wipes capable of making the Virus that may be on these hard surfaces inert? If not, what are others using to clean these things? Advice appreciated Edited by user 18 May 2020 11:02:49(UTC)
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The answer is to use alcohol wipes. We use these to sanitise probes used for skin condition measurements.
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Rank: Super forum user
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In the last days before lockdown was instigated, 1 of my clients invested in lots of wipes and had a 2 hourly regime of wiping down door handles, photocopier control pad, etc etc. The office is on the first floor and with over 20 staff it seemed the most pragmatic approach. Apart from the neat freak we have in the office, most would spend 10 mins wiping down the required surfaces, she decided it was a god escuse for a deep clean. It took several days to ensure she complied the same as the other office staff.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Thanks Chris and Mark Mark; the wipes you refered to are they the alcohol ones that Chris noted ? or another sort ? Most people have photocopiers and they tend to be touched by most. Ours is leased which I think a lot are, so we had best not damage it. It would be nice if it was something easily bought. Chris
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I've had a look on the internet and several sites refer to using a 70 % iospropyl solution applied to a microfibre cloth for general cleaning of sensitive kit such as touch screens.
We've placed hand sanitisers (again a 70 % alcohol gel) in offices, and discouraged sharing equipment wherever possible.
by the way, the alcohol gel appears to be kind to skin so far.
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 1 user thanked RVThompson for this useful post.
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I remember as an engineering apprentice using Isopropyl alcohol to degrease component parts after test, ready for inspection. I remember if not careful you can end up floating around like the Bisto kids in the old advert. (other gravy is available, and best if you make your own). Can’t exactly drag the copier outside, but definitely worth a thought. I suspect if I allow that stuff in the workplace it will be used for everything under the sun -getting sticky labels off, getting the brown stains off the bottom of their mugs, the amount of misuse is unimaginable. A little further research shows that some anti bac wipes are alcohol based and some may neutralise Viruses as well as kill bacterium. It should apparently say so on the packet if it does both. Additionally, Disinfectant needs to be on the surface for 5 minutes to be effective. The skin issue for me was to stay in even more and so not need to wash hands so much. This allowed skin to recover a good bit and now not sensitive to the moisturiser. Chris Edited by user 18 May 2020 15:38:23(UTC)
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1 user thanked chris42 for this useful post.
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Virtually every cleaning/anti-bac spray will have a detergent element that will break down fat. It is the viruses outer fat layer that allows it to stick to surfaces. So if you spray your surfaces with cleaning spray and then wipe down to remove the virus as its ability to stick to the surface is reduced (same principle as the hand washing advice). Throw contaminated cloths/wipes away and segregate for 72hrs before disposing in normal waste streams. Not a virologist (although I used to do product development of cleaning sprays) but that is how I have been interpreting the cleaning guidance.
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2 users thanked Holliday42333 for this useful post.
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“The study revealed that touching intact areas of moist skin transferred enough organisms to the nurses’ hands to allow subsequent transmission to catheter material despite handwashing with plain soap and water; by contrast, alcohol-based handrubbing was effective and prevented crosstransmission to the device.” – WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care, page 22
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2 users thanked chris.packham for this useful post.
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Isn't the outer part of the coronavirus particle protein rather than fat?
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Rank: Super forum user
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Originally Posted by: Kate  Isn't the outer part of the coronavirus particle protein rather than fat?
https://www.newscientist.com/term/coronavirus/#ixzz6MsEKwNNK
"Coronavirus particles are surrounded by a fatty outer layer called an envelope and usually appear spherical, as seen under an electron microscope, with a crown or “corona” of club-shaped spikes on their surface."
As far as I know (and I am not a biologist) all enveloped viruses are surrounded by a fatty layer that protects the proteins inside. This is why these don't tend to survive digestion, alcohol etc. The non-enveloped viruses (such as noroviris) don't have this weakness. The are encased in a hard shell that can survive extreme PH levels and alcohol.
Obviously if someone knows better please correct me.
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2 users thanked CptBeaky for this useful post.
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From a brief literature search, it would seem that the spikes which project from the lipid (fatty) envelope are glycoprotein, and it is these spikes that attach to the host cells, and also give the virus it's name.
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2 users thanked RVThompson for this useful post.
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3 users thanked RVThompson for this useful post.
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