There’s a ton of information going around about our current state of being and (mis)information is running rampant.

COVID-19.

You should definitely not wear a mask.

You definitely SHOULD wear a mask.

How is the virus spread?

The virus lives on metal for 12 hours. No, 24 hours. No, 72 hours.

It can live in your clothes for 3 days!

Gargle hot water! It kills the virus in your throat and washes it into your stomach.

A cloth mask will stop the virus from getting in

6 feet away is enough to keep you from getting infected

This is an old person’s disease, young people don’t die

It’s just like the flu

Eat ginger! It kills Coronavirus!

Buy all the hand sanitizer because, it works!

You need Toilet Paper!

And on, and on, and on. Complete and utter nonsense circulating around on a daily basis from people just like me, writing in absolutes about facts they picked up from a meme they saw on Facebook.

Let’s go over what we do know about viruses, how they work, how this one is spread, what masks do and what they protect you from, the different types of masks that are available, and how to properly not cross contaminate yourself when going out in public.

What is a Virus?

define: an infective agent that typically consists of a nucleic acid molecule in a protein coat, is too small to be seen by light microscopy, and is able to multiply only within the living cells of a host.

In lamens – a virus is non-organic and not alive. A virus is held together by what’s called a covalent bond. These bonds need to be broken down to effectively nutrilize a virus, but to get to those bonds you first need to get past the lipid bilayer.

Let’s discuss how not all viruses are the same. In our bodies, we have different types of cells. Brain cells. Stomach lining cells. Skin cells. Heart cells. Lung cells.

Each virus has a type of receptor that’s especially useful in attaching to certain types of cells. Not all cells look alike, act alike, or attract viruses alike. Think of it like putting a square peg in a round hole. A virus meant for lung cells won’t work against a brain cell. It can’t attach properly.

Once a virus attaches itself to a cell, it begins to inject it’s own RNA into the cell which the cell then by no fault of it’s own, will start to replicate using it’s own internal processes. If you want complete scientific resources regarding this process, here’s a great article:

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/boundless-biology/chapter/virus-infections-and-hosts/

The thing to note here is that viruses are very, very small. To see one you need an electron microscope. One last thing to note is that not all information regarding viruses applies to all viruses. Just like people, viruses can have many attributes, and many different characteristics. We’ll be focusing on this corona virus for this article, but all the info you read about viruses will not cross-contaminate over to other types of viruses. Be weary about “All-knowing-all-or-nothing” type articles.

Soap vs Hand Sanitizer

In most cases with most viruses, soap is a much better alternative than hand sanitizer.

Why does soap work so well on the new coronavirus and, indeed, most viruses? Because it is a self-assembled nano particle in which the weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bi layer.

That sounds scientific. Let me explain.

Soap dissolves the fat membrane, and the virus falls apart like a house of cards and “dies,” or rather, it becomes inactive as viruses aren’t really alive. Somer viruses can be active outside the body for hours, even days.

The length of time of SARS-COV-19 is yet to be determined on all surfaces, but you’ll find info online that claims anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days depending on the surface. That’s a huge disparity in online information, so for now, I won’t make any claims as to how long it can live on what surfaces for how long.

Disinfectants, or liquids, wipes, gels and creams containing alcohol (and soap) have a similar effect but are not as good as regular soap. Apart from alcohol and soap, antibacterial agents in those products don’t affect the virus structure much. Consequently, many antibacterial products are basically just an expensive version of soap in how they act on viruses. Soap is the best, but alcohol wipes are good when soap is not practical or handy, for example in office reception areas.

High alcohol content is needed to get through those fatty lipids we discussed up above, and many times a virus needs to actually “soak” in alcohol to break those bonds. When we use hand sanitizer, the alcohol tends to evaporate rather quickly, making it much less effective than plain-ol soap and water.

Many hand sanitizers don’t have the alcohol content to be effective against all viruses. So the type of hand sanitizer used and the type of ingredients it has in it is also a factor.

In Summary:

Does hand sanitizer work?

Sometimes, depending on what’s in it, the alcohol content, what type of virus you’re dealing with, and how long it sits in the alcohol solution.

Does Soap and Water Work?

Yes.

Should I wear a mask?

So much going around about this question. First the CDC put out to not wear masks. Now as of this writing they are putting out information that we:

“Should wear masks. Any masks. Cotton masks. Surgery masks. But don’t wear N95 respirators, those are for our medical workers”

But what’s the science behind it? What kinds of masks are helpful, if any at all against something as small as a virus?

To understand how masks work, first we must understand how this virus transmits itself from host to host. Let’s first understand that there is no absolute answer here. Lots of things are possible, and you cannot, and should not, concern yourself with every possible unlikely scenario.

Is this virus airborne?

Not in the traditional sense that it travels through air vents and infects neighboring hospital rooms via the air conditioning system. But the virus can be suspended in air for a short time after someone sneezes, as can anything the size of .125 microns. They are very light, and can be suspended in air for a short time. This however, is not traditionally how this virus is spread.

Then should I wear a mask?

A mask is good for a number of reason, but they might not be quite the reasons you’re thinking right now.

Traditionally this virus is spread from an infected human coughing or sneezing on something or coughing into their hand and then touching something else, which then another person touches who then touches their face, eyes, nose, or mouth.

If someone were to cough or sneeze in an elevator let’s say, they could possibly walk into a viral cloud and contract the disease that way.

Or an infected person could quite literally cough into your open mouth at the grocery store. There are many, many possibilities to contract a virus like this.

Could a viral particle pass through a mask and get into your open orifices? Quite simply, yes. Viruses are tiny. If a virus is airborne and you walk directly into it, a normal cloth or surgical mask might not filter out the particle and it’ll pass through the lining like a hot dog thrown down a hallway. The good thing is, this is not normally how this particular virus is transmitted.

The virus attaches itself to water particles in your cough or sneeze, and wearing a mask if you are infected creates a barrier that can trap those water droplets and keep the virus from spreading too far out from it’s origin.

Wearing a mask also keeps the wearer from touching their face with hands that could have picked up the virus from touching a surface carrying the virus. If the non-infected person were to take the mask off, then wash their hands and leave the mask alone for a designated amount of time, the virus would eventually die off and the mask could be reused. They could also sanitize the mask for future uses (cloth masks, home made, etc..)

And last, but not least, masks have been known to catch some viral particles, so it’s one more barrier against you and the virus.

But let’s be clear, wearing a cloth mask is not a complete barrier against a particle the size of .125 microns. And N95 respirators, the type of mask that is rated to filter out viral particles, are costly, hard to wear for long periods of time, and not available for most of the general public to use for every day use.

The main thing to take away from this article about wearing a mask is, don’t panic and buy more than what you need, because you’ll take masks away from people who really need them, like medical workers. Most importantly, don’t expect it to completely nullify you from contracting the corona virus, and be aware of the different types of masks that will be more or less effective when putting one on.

If there’s no seal, and the mask isn’t rated for trapping viral particles, then you’re protecting yourself against coughs, sneezes, and touching your own face. Not from the virus coming in via aerosol means.

Make sure to understand why you’re wearing that home made cloth bandanna mask you pulled out from the sock drawer at home.

Cross Contamination.

I see it almost every day. People are worried about the corona virus. They do things to protect themselves, like wear gloves and wash their hands. They’ll gargle hot water, buy up all the ginger, and use a blow dryer in their mouth in hopes to kill the virus.

People will go to great lengths in the name of fear to try and make themselves immune to the virus. But I constantly see them doing the one thing that really matters.

They are cross contaminating themselves.

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Scenario 1:

A person wearing gloves walks into a store, heads back to the cooler to grab a drink, goes up front and puts the drink on the counter, pays for their item with a credit card and walks out. They are careful not to touch the gloves when removing them and they throw them in a bin outside.

Scenario 2:

A cashier at a local store is wearing gloves to protect themselves against the corona virus. You walk up to them to hand them your items, they’ll take the items and scan them, and give you a total. You then pay by cash. The cashier takes the cash, and hands you your change. He then bags your items and leave the store.

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In both scenarios, wearing the gloves was an absolutely useless precaution for stopping the spread of the disease. We will look at all the cross contamination happening here, but first lets set a guideline of known rules.

1.) The virus is mostly spread from contaminated objects like hard counter top surfaces and high traffic items like door handles, cooler handles, and gas pumps.

2.) If it’s a high traffic area – imagine wet, red paint on it. The goal is to not get any red paint on anything you are going to take home with you. Not your pants, not your wallet, not your car door handle or steering wheel. No red paint goes home with you.

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Scenario 1: We have someone wearing gloves but they touched the shop door handle, then the cooler door handle, then their drink, then their pants fabric, their pocket, their wallet, their credit card, the credit card machine to put in their pin, the counter top, the door on the way out, then their product again, to finally throw away their gloves.

They’ve got red paint all over them, the thing they are about to drink from, and now their clothes, wallet, and credit card. So wearing the gloves didn’t help them in the least bit.

Scenario 2: This one is blatantly clear. The shop cashier has gloves on, but their gloves are covered in red paint from all the use from all the cash and products they’ve been touching from other people who aren’t wearing gloves and could contaminate things as they bring them up. These gloves now touched your products, your cash, the bag he put your items in, and now the change he gives you. You in turn touch the change, all the products he touched, and the bags he put your items in. Your pants, wallet, vehicle door, and steering wheel are also all contaminated.

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Cross. Contamination.

If you’re going to wear gloves, and attempt to protect yourself from viral contamination, then let’s be smart about it.

Here’s my personal routine, and I know some of you scoff at the lengths some people take to keep themselves safe, but my mother-in-law is going through her 5th round of chemotherapy, and is extremely immuno-compromised. She also lives with me. She’s in the absolute highest risk group of anyone to catch this disease and have fatal consequences, so I’ve had to be creative and intelligent with how I conduct myself until we can come up with a vaccine to this virus.

Scenario 3 – My method:

I wear one glove on my right hand. This is my contaminated hand. I find that wearing two gloves makes it difficult to remember what you’ve touched with what hand. Once this hand touches any of the red paint zones, this hand can no longer touch anything that is going home with me.

I take out my wallet, and put my credit card in my left back pocket, making it easy to reach in and not have to use two hands to rifle through a wallet.

I walk into the store, and open the door with right hand. This hand is now contaminated.

I go to the cooler, open it with my right hand, and grab my drink with my left hand.

I walk to the front, never placing my drink on the counter if I can help it, and I hold the item so the cashier can scan it. I then reach into my back pocket with my left hand, place the card into the machine, and type my pin in with my right hand. I remove the card, place it back into my pocket, and if I need a bag because I have multiple items, I bag them myself, using only my left hand.

I leave the store, opening it with my right hand. Then before going to my vehicle, I walk over to a garbage can and remove my glove without touching the outside of it and place it in the waist container.

At this point I am not 100% guaranteed virus free, because if I grabbed items off shelf there could be the rare instance that they were sneezed on or coughed on recently, but I also can’t see someone rifling through 20 bags of the same type of Doritos contaminating the batch with their hands. In effect, I have reasonably minimized my risk of cross contaminating myself without creating a panic.

Have a better solution that doesn’t involve spraying bleach all over any item that enters my bubble? Let me know below!