- Infectious Disease & Virus Cleaning -  

Coronavirus (CoV) refers to a family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV or the Wuhan coronavirus, is a novel or new coronavirus that was first identified in humans in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

“Standard cleaning products that will kill other viruses will be presumptively fine against [SARS-CoV-2],” says Dr. Aaron Glatt, chief of infectious disease at Mount Sinai South Nassau in New York. Still, Glatt notes that as this is a new virus, “we obviously don’t have a ton of data on it.” And an important caveat is products must be used correctly.

Many cleaning products advertise their ability to kill nearly all bacteria and viruses that cause disease, including coronaviruses. What’s usually less prominent on their labels is the directive to use enough of the product to wet a surface for a period of up to several minutes, and then to allow the area to dry. “Some of these [products] don’t work by contact,” Glatt says. “They work by being on the surface for a while and drying via air.” (Don’t re-use wipes, either: Research suggests using the same one on multiple surfaces spreads germs.)