To not understand the 60 degree Covid19 wash

[Trolltoes]

Sorry if this is really obvious but I haven’t found an answer yet so hoping the hive mind can help. I understand that soap, washing up liquid, bleach break down the fatty membrane of Covid 19 band that we need to wash hands for 20 secs + so why are experts saying to do a 60 degree laundry wash? Surely the soapy detergent has things in it that will break down the fatty membrane? Am thinking that a 60 degree wash will wreck most of my clothes!

I have no idea - but maybe washing your hands is to dislodge virus and wash it away, but clothes wash not so easy for it to drain away so the aim is to kill it, 40 degress won't kill it?

Weve been advised to wash our scrubs at 60, tumble dry only and then iron it 🙄

I always wash mine at 40 but have been advised to wash at 60 from nhs

I don't understand it either. If it breaks down with soap, why does it not break down with all the soapy detergent in the washing machine?

Washing my knickers at 60c, buggered the elastic within a few weeks, weirdly tumbling them does not and my tumbler gets very hot. Which reminds me I must order some new underwear.

I do wash bedding at 60c and towels, also OH very mucky work clothes, otherwise 40c works fine for everything else.

I've been wondering about this too! I literally have no clothes that can be washed at 60C. And apparently I'm a slattern when I wash my towels, bedclothes, and underwear at 40C. But these things also don't say they can be washed at 60C I think!

Scrubs are meant to be washed at 60+ washes to kill bacteria rather than viruses although it would certainly also kill Coronavirus.

40C degrees is barely above blood temperature and will not reliably kill bacterial pathogens that live in humans even though in theory it should damage Coronavirus. However many modern washing machines are so bloody 'eco' that a 40C wash may be deliberately designed to be well below 40C, and many use so little water that bacteria are not removed properly at all. So whilst one would expect CV to be seriously damaged by the detergent at 40C it would be far safer to use a 60C wash so that bacteria are also removed.

I wash everything at 60c. Always have done, years ago most things had 60c or 50c on the label now everything even towels will say 40c or 30c

Wool I hand wash in warm water because not many machines even on bloody wool keep them nice.

I can't remember the last time I used anything below 60c on a automatic tbh. My washer even takes hot water in.

I use 90c for dog bedding and anything else I think is gross. I hope people that use cloth nappies boil them! Gosh a shitty nappy being put on at 40c or lower! Yuk!

Speaking of boiling stuff, does anyone on here still boil their bras lol. My nan used to in a pot, bless her.

Boiled bras!

I was told this at work the other day (not a clinical setting so not something considered before)

My clothes will shrink, obviously they have already shrunk recently for some unexplainable reason 🤷🏻‍♀️

Apart from towels and sheets I wash everything at 30

The advice I've seen for stuff that can't tolerate a hot wash is to use a full wash rather than a quick wash.

The guidelines to care homes in Northern Ireland re laundry is interesting. They tell staff not to shake laundry but say that their clothes can be washed with other laundry following the normal washing instructions.
I'm far from reassured as they don't even suggest that the clothes are stored separately until they're washed.

@TeaYes No you don’t boil nappies, 60C maximum. Lots of people use two parter nappies rather than the old terries of yesteryear so the PUL would melt at 90C and they’d no longer be waterproof.

Yes my nanny boiled her bras and my grandads hankies (after scrubbing them) in the boiling pot

She would also boil sheets even though she had a perfectly good washing machine to use

And of course nets

Cruise ships wash linen at 60 degrees - kills norovirus and any other nasties.

The science behind 60 C is most proteins denature at 60 C so it will destroy most bacteria/viruses (but not all).

I am not sure why washing powder/liquid would not be enough but maybe because many of them use enzymes as well as surfactants (the thing in soap that destroys the lipid bilayer of coronavirus) and washing machines use agitation to remove dirt so maybe the concentration of surfactant used in a normal wash to get clothes "clean" enough isn't high enough to kill the virus?

Apparently detergents are stronger than soap so it’s very odd that a 30 second wash won’t get rid of it unless it’s like a PP said about washing it down the sink, in which case I need to pull out the plug when I was my hands

Sorry goingoverground - I posted before I read your reply which makes sense. Thanks

Lol @Trolltoes I think it was to get them back white lol. This was before she had a automatic.

@ClaraLane well it has been many a year since I have seen cloth nappies. I was thinking of the terries, you are right there.

Have a look at www.explainthatstuff.com/detergents.html and www.chemistryworld.com/features/beyond-cleaning/3004503.article (if you want to get more scientific).

Silly question alert - I thought the virus only lives on surfaces for a number of days, so alternately could you throw clothes that would easily get ruined (eg dry clean only) in a black bag for a week?

Thanks for the links bettybattenburg. I don’t want to sound like a broken record, and the 2nd article was really interesting when it explained how the membranes were broken down with hand washing but I couldn’t see anything about why a machine wash needed to be hotter and longer? Sorry if I’ve missed it

browzingzs, yes you probably could. I’m just trying to understand the advice as it’s been reported a fair bit but never with an explanation

Browzinggs, you would have to assume there was nothing to feed any microorganisms on the clothes for that to be completely effective. More likely they would end up fusty due to bacteria and mould growth.