By now, everyone in Houston has had drummed into their consciousness the advice repeated endlessly from every quarter: that we wash our hands for 20 seconds. It’s sound advice that’s now part of everyone’s new daily routine—a routine that, for a while at least, includes a lot more time spent at home.
For the legions of new Houston homebodies, there’s suddenly time to muse over things we’d typically just take at face value. We can ask questions like, “Why soap and water?” And “why exactly 20 seconds?” The web has answers—but finding the best takes time.
After clicking past the ads, Houston housebound researchers would first arrive at the highly visited CDC site that explains, “…lathering and scrubbing hands creates friction, which helps lift dirt, grease, and microbes from the skin…” That sounds reasonable enough. It further explains the 20 second time estimate is “…based on many factors, including the type and amount of soil on the hands and setting of the person washing…”
That explanation might have been satisfactory in the past, but perhaps because that explanation seems to be more concerned with removing visible things like “dirt” and “soil” rather than nearly invisible viruses, today’s housebound Houston researcher has time to delve deeper…
Sure enough, further investigation yields an entirely different explanation—one that could make a difference in how much attention the handwashing process receives. From a Washington Post feature, “What the structure of the coronavirus can tell us,” comes this: “Soap…is virus kryptonite, which is why the message ‘Wash your hands!’ is everywhere.”
It seems that 20 seconds of contact with any kind of soap dissolves the lipid membrane that holds the virus together—but it takes 20 seconds to get the job done. (A straightforward visual depiction is here).
For any Houston homeowner who’s in the process of readying their property for sale, the extra time at home will come as a plus. Call Rinnovare Realty, LLC at (832) 445-4957 for details on how to make the most of the changing Houston market!