Does the fridge kill coronavirus?

[bathsh3ba]

Just wondered if anyone knew. I was given a bottle of wine as a thank you for collecting shopping for a neighbour whose wife died with COVID19. I washed my hands after handling the bottle and it's now been in the fridge for 2 days. Do I still need to wash the bottle or would that be OTT? The bottle is unopened so sealed, it's just the bottle/lid that could be potentially contaminated.

That would be OTT.

It wouldn't hurt to rinse it down with warm soapy water .

Normally I'd say it's OTT but given it's come from a known Covid 19 patient's relative, I'd run a soapy cloth around the lid and bottle.

💐 for your friend.

It will be fine, but if your thinking about it enough to post, it will be on your mind the whole time you're drinking it. It is probably worth an unessasery wash so that you can then relax and enjoy your wine.

I read somewhere that people who work in virus research keep them in fridges where they stay 'alive'. I'd be washing that bottle OP.

Hello there. Definitely wash with soap and water if you are concerned. Fridge temperatures are in what food handlers would term the 'danger zone', meaning any bacteria/virus etc. will not be killed.

I was listening to one of John campbell's YouTube videos and he was saying that cold temperatures will just freeze or suspend the virus. I wipe down all my shopping before it goes in the fridge but if it wasn't cleaned before I would clean it down then wash hands well.

Heat can kill the viruses but fridge and freezer can preserve it. I would disinfect the bottle (and the whole fridge to be sure).

Didn't seem to do much good for Boris.

No. Cold does not kill the virus. Cold will preserve the virus.

OK I'll wipe it with disinfectant. If it's spread to the rest of the fridge we are in trouble though as we have been eating from it without washing anything!

Just wash it 🤷🏻‍♀️

Disinfectant isn't effective against corona virus warm soapy water breaks it down .

I doubt it will have spread, but I'd be inclined to clean the area you stood the bottle.

Yep wash the bottle

100 %

As well as your hands

Viruses aren't like bacteria, so it won't have spread to the rest of the fridge. They need living cells to invade in order to replicate but I would definitely give it a good wash, and anything it came into physical contact with in the fridge

Disinfectant isn't effective against corona virus

Bollocks
Quaternary ammonia products and many other disinfectants are active against corinaviruses.

OP the issue is that it's been in-contact for 2 days already. If you were going to wash it, then you should have done so immediately. Washing it after it's been sitting with your foodstuffs for 2 days is rather closing the stable door after the horse has bolted

I'm now imagining the virus jumping around my fridge... surely it would only be on the bottle.

Unfortunately the low humidity and low temperature in the fridge are perfect for preserving the virus in the same way it is for food.

Give that has come from household where someone has had the virus, you should definitely clean it, especially as it has only been 48 hours. Wash it with soap/washing up liquid in the same way you would for your hands so leaving it on 20 seconds. I would just wipe the soap off with a paper towel rather than rinsing it and splashing water around. You could use bleach but there is no need.

The virus is "sticky" so unless you were shaking it about in the fridge, it shouldn't have contaminated anything it hasn't touched. I would clean anything it has touched/been near to, including the shelf though to prevent cross contamination.

I've now washed it with washing up liquid and a freshly washed cloth which has now gone straight back in the washing machine. And then washed my hands. So I think I should be ok to enjoy a glass of wine now!

My daughter has possibly had it anyway (and the neighbour and his wife are in their 80s so were susceptible) but best to be cautious.

I'm now imagining the virus jumping around my fridge... surely it would only be on the bottle

It won't have jumped on your cheese strings on the shelf above but it could have transferred onto anything the bottle touched. Technically, it could also have been dislodged from the bottle when you put in the fridge and fallen on anything below or if you have moved something the bottle was touching to another place in the fridge, you could have transferred it.

It was in the fridge door, nothing below it and next to a bottle of milk. Will wash the milk bottle and fridge door shelf.

No the fridge would make the virus last longer

That was nice of you.

RE. Fridge-wine etc. I would also wipe the fridge door (the section that you handled to open the fridge) and maybe leave the wine for 3 days.

Oh and the tray in the door that the wine was sitting in. In normal circumstances this would be over the top but not if you know that it might well have Covid on it.