Wash fruits and vegetables well. Let purchased products aerate before storing them in the cupboards. Do not touch your face without first washing your hands. In this context of the current pandemic, there is no shortage of advice and recommendations. As in a thriller series, a kind of paranoia invades us with a question that keeps haunting us: did i do the right things?
Therefore we rush to various websites to find solutions that will keep us from being contaminated with Covid-19. After reviewing the crisp baguette from the local bakery, the door handles and even our smartphone, what about our clothes ? Scarves, sweaters, coats and jackets are the first armor to face the soft spring freshness during authorized exits during confinement. However, these pieces are also at the forefront of this virus. At this precise moment, we are asking 36,000 questions: do our clothes carry disease? Between preconceived ideas and fake news, it's time to tidy up all the rumors, not just our wardrobe!
Clothes carrying the coronavirus: the question of matter
This is now well known: Covid-19 is mainly transmitted from person to person. When talking to someone infected with the virus, a few respiratory droplets may fall on the clothes. Therefore, the fabric becomes a surface "that can harbor the virus". According to one of the rare studies conducted on this subject by the World Health Organization (WHO), the lifespan of the virus on clothing depends on the type of fabric and material.
The virus attaches more easily and longer to porous and moist materials. Concretely, this means that polyester and spandex clothing retain germs more easily than parts made from cotton and other natural fibers. When in doubt, the Center for Disease Control (the US government agency for disease control) recommends that you remove any clothing that is in contact with the outside as soon as we walk in the door, and clean them to prevent the spread of coronavirus. However, we can be reassured, contamination through our clothing is more than minimal.
Coronavirus and clothing: the right things to do
Although it is strongly recommended to wash your hands regularly with a hydroalcoholic gel, it is quite different for our clothes. On the contrary, a few sprays of alcohol to be harmful to both clothing and mucous membranes, as the WHO explains in its latest study.
If in doubt, it makes more sense to wash immediately high temperature clothing with products containing bleach. The High Council for Public Health recommends washing the laundry of a confirmed infected person "in a washing machine with a usual detergent and a cycle at 60 degrees minimum for 30 minutes minimum ".
Useful and regular advice which adds to the long list: wash your hands as much as possible, keep your social distance and above all stay at home.
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