[katieHaylor (OP)]

Naomi says:

I understand that soap dissolves the lipid bilayer of the Covid virus, thus making it inactive. I wash my face coverings with fragrance free soap, rinse them, then dry them.

I was wondering, if after rinsing (so clean), I washed the face covering with soap and then left it to dry without rinsing/not fully rinsing, when I next wear the face covering, if air droplets of COVID-19 come into contact with the face covering, would the moisture from the air droplets (and also my breath on the face covering) activate the soap in the face covering and would the fatty membrane dissolve, making the virus inactive?

Or in another instance, could a soapy solution be applied to a surface, allowed to dry naturally, and then if any COVID-19 droplets fell onto it, would the moisture activate the soap to dissolve the fatty membrane?

What do you think?

[evan_au]

Studies into reusable face masks show that just a quick rinse or hand-wash is not enough to eliminate the virus built up over a day of use. They should be washed in a washing machine with hot soapy water.

There is not enough soap and mechanical movement due to a virus-laden aerosol bumping into a facemask to deactivate the virus. The main purpose of the mask is to act as a mechanical barrier to keep virus-containing droplets from passing through:
- From your breath, eg forcefully expelled when you talk
- Or from other people's breath or coughs, drifting through the air

[Petrochemicals]

Studies into reusable face masks show that just a quick rinse or hand-wash is not enough to eliminate the virus built up over a day of use. They should be washed in a washing machine with hot soapy water.

There is not enough soap and mechanical movement due to a virus-laden aerosol bumping into a facemask to deactivate the virus. The main purpose of the mask is to act as a mechanical barrier to keep virus-containing droplets from passing through:
- From your breath, eg forcefully expelled when you talk
- Or from other people's breath or coughs, drifting through the air

I worry about these hair spring headlines such as "soap kills corona virus". It may well do, but I'm sure ginger chilli's and the rest eventually kill it, the point is how fast and what sort of soap. Its a case of the boy who cried wolf.

We got told that immunity was not achieved through infection and many cases of reinfection, yet one confirmed case Tplus 6 months is the result, very rare. My cousin had chicken pox twice 20 years apart. I went to see him, yet neither I my brother my parent nor his parents nor any of his friends suffered a reimergence/reinfection.