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 wash everything at 60 degrees before, during or will after covid.

I always put everything except towels, underwear and bedsheets on an eco wash with a capful of Zoflora in to kill any bacteria

unless it’s like a PP said about washing it down the sink

It's the opposite. If you are washing your hands properly, you are using a small amount of soap and water to lather your hands and washing them for 20 seconds so the soap has time to destroy the lipid bilayer of the virus. What you wash down the sink should be "destroyed" virus. When you wash clothes, the concentration of detergent is lower than the lather on your hands.

I'm working with a group in our village to make scrubs and accessories for the NHS and we have to use fabric that can be washed at 60, and we have to pre wash it to check.

NHS approved fabric (which is incredibly hard to get) is washable at 60 and we are told it is expected to be washed at 60. No idea why but obviously we are doing as requested or the clients won't want the orders we are making for them!

I read that coronavirus probably lasts a few hours to a day on fabrics. So with my normal clothes I keep them in the laundry basket for a couple of days once it's full (basically quarantine my laundry like a crazy woman), then wash on 30oc as normal. For my nurse uniforms; I leave them in the plastic bag I've put them in when I got changed at work for at least two days (luckily I have plenty of them), soak them for 20 minutes in a bucket with some dettol laundry cleanser in (you have to soak it to kill viruses), wash on 60oc, and then iron within an inch of its life.

I normally wash at 40. I've done a couple of loads at 60 but don't want to ruin stuff so am compromising by mostly doing a longer wash on 40 (3 hrs but overnight on cheaper electricity). I normally put on yesterday's clothes to go to the shops (only one a week!) but I also go out for Dr appointments so do end up only wearing stuff for a short amount of time on those days. Get home, strip down to underwear in laundry room and put on clean clothes.i don't always shower immediately but wash my hands and arms up to elbows as I realised I was catching my arms on the side of the shopping trolley!

Surely the heat of a tumble dryer would be effective too?

I wash everything except woollens at 60 anyway, it's the shortest cycle on my machine 🤷

Just to throw another variable in, I read somewhere that only bio POWDER should be used. Apparently non bio or liquid capsules don’t have enough bleach in them.

I don't have anything except for non-bio capsules (skin problems) do I need to buy new stuff? Or just wash hotter?

Surely the heat of a tumble dryer would be effective too?

Heat doesn't seem to destroy the virus.

I wash most things at 60 except really delicate items. Bedding/towels are washed at 95. All have survived.

I use the dettol 99.9% laundry cleanser as well as normal detergent but have done for afew years now

I've never even heard of that. Where did you read it?
Not all clothing fabrics are set up for that anyway.
60 has always been more like bedding temperatures! (Eczema prone household so cotton bedding this high)
Clothes is 30 or 40. 60 as a norm is bonkers!

Hmm this is news. I think the hand washing is hot water.

Hmmm guidelines don't state water temperature for hands that I can find

Sky were asking their microbiologist contributeor about handwashing,meh said water temp doesn't matter...it's the soap.

Also I definitely saw somewhere reputable or official that the same applies with washing, sorry can't remember where.

Hot water isnt even hooked up to my machine. I only wash in cold.

I have switched my washes upto 60 usually washed at 40, nothing has been ruined.

Washing machines are cold fill, the machine heats up the water @squeekums

Doesn't UV also kill off the bug, so in this weather a 40 wash and hang outside?

Think so yes. I’m not too stressed about it, it just seem odd that it’s given as advice without any explanation of why the temp needs to be 60 when it’s not for hand washing when there are things that break down the fatty membrane in both hand washing and machine washing

My daughter is a nurse and she has been told to wash her uniform at 60 degrees. She gets changed at the hospital and bags up her uniform to bring home. I wash it straight away at that temperature.

All other clothes I don't wash at that temperature.

I reckon it's just belt and braces method.

40C with soap and agitation will also get rid of the virus. But 60C will also denature it so you can be extra sure.

A bit like how you wash a baby's bottles but also sterilise them, then make up with formula with hot water and feed straight away, when in reality, you only need to do one or the other, but doing both is a failsafe because formula is a great breeding ground for bacteria and the kinds of bacteria which cause issues in the tummy can be so dangerous for little babies you don't want to take any chances.

So, make sure you wash your clothes (obviously) but if you want to be extra sure you're getting any trace of virus, which is sensible if you work in a hospital or are washing nappies, also wash at 60.

Also wash your hands after you load the machine (I always do anyway - paranoid about worms!)

Where are these experts.? Social media is full of fake science atm.

Uk government advice is to wash as normal but avoid transferring virus by shaking laundry or washing e.g.uniforms inside a bag.

Detergent, bleach and enzymes (and agitation) clean laundry, that’s why we don’t need to boil wash any more in most circumstances. If a hot wash killed Covid 19 that would be in the guidance. UNICEF guidance is “warmest appropriate water”.