MOMENTUM July 2020 | Page 16

HEALTH MIKE RODRIGUEZ The Germ Guy 832.444.3588 [email protected] www.thegermguy.net Germs and Bacteria After months of research on how to properly eliminate germs and bacteria, you learn there is more to pathogens than anyone had ever imagined. For instance our good buddy COVID-19, if most were like me when I started, I would think of a germ like it was that green blob you always see on the picture and to eliminate them you just spray some cleaner and wipe them away. Boy was I wrong. Pathogens are all different, things like Staphylococcus is similar to the green blob you see in the picture. You spray some cleaner over it after a few seconds wipe it up and its gone. But for our buddy COVID-19, this guy is guarded. COVID-19 has a lipid layer, a layer of fat that protects the infectious cell of the pathogen making it tougher to penetrate and eliminate. He isn’t afraid of a quick squirt of cleaner and a rag. To give you a comparison with things you can see, if staphylococcus is your clean truck after a rain storm with some spots of haze and debris, COVID-19 is that same truck after you took it mudding and got it stuck up to the doors. You can take a hose to the first truck and it will wash the haze off of the truck that was rained on but you need the pressure washer and a few hours to clean the muddied truck. Like in the analogy both methods use water but the tools are different. With all that being said, most pathogens are similar in the fact that they can be eliminated from most surfaces with the proper cleaning techniques. Most people that don’t deal with virus and bacteria everyday think you deal with them all the same way, however all are to be dealt with differently. Some are a quick wash like the truck that got rained on and some have to be soaked and deep cleaned like the muddied truck. The experts say that COVID isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. So we have to do our part to slow the spread where we can. We need to social distance, we need to wash our hands, we need to wear a mask when possible and we need to make sure we are cleaning properly so it will be effective. Whether that is cleaning with cans of Lysol or having someone come in and clean for you, make sure it is being done so that is effective in eliminating whatever is on the surface. Remember anything worth doing is worth doing right and if were not all in this together, we are running up an icy hill. Stay safe my friends and don’t get stuck in the mud. 14 MOMENTUM