People are going to end up with weak immune systems if they keep over-sterilizing everything and sterlizing things that could just be left untouched for a couple of days and be safe. I’ve gotten in the habit, when I go shopping, of just leaving the non-perishable things I’m not planning to use right away in the car. I only go out once every 3 days or so, so I figure everything’s safe to touch after that, since my car bakes in the sun all day and it gets sweltering hot in there. So I only have to wipe down the containers I need to put in the fridge or use right away.
As new information becomes available, the CDC revises their recommendations. Recently the CDC announced that Risk of infection from surfaces Is low. The greatest risk is from airborne particles.
If you exuberantly clean every surface, the concerned traveler is going to wipe it all down again (Which is what I will do when I travel).
The “I’m not going to wear a mask. Covid19 is no worse than the flu” Guest isn’t going to care.
Do whatever level of cleaning you feel is appropriate. Leave a supply of wipes (I can’t find any so I’m leaving a baggie of rubbing alcohol soaked disposable wash cloths). The guest will do whatever makes them comfortable.
To give airborne particles a chance to fall out of the air, the 24 hours between check out-check in is the most meaningful infection prevention intervention.
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Also, remember that cleaning with soap and water works for this virus. Anti-bacterial works for bacteria, not viruses. Alcohol and bleach are okay but not necessary.
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Do you have any evidence for this claim?
Yet we still worry and wipe things down.
I am not worried about my immune system getting weaker, at my age and having two kids at home I have been and do get exposed to plenty of germs.
Better safe than sorry, I will continue doing what I can weather it works or not to try and not get exposed to CV19
RR
I don’t have “evidence” at hand, but I’m sure you could research such things online. There have certainly been articles published that I’ve read in the past where doctors have found that the incidence of things like asthma and allergies in children have gone way up in recent years and it is attributed to people keeping their homes so clean that the child develops no resistance to common allergens.
Just like vaccines inject a small amount of whatever pathogen the vaccine is for to trigger the immune system to produce antibodies, we are surrounded by bacteria and viruses all the time that we develop resistance to. If all those things are constantly killed with disinfectants, we can’t develop resistance to them.
Of course, there are situations where you would want to disinfect- hospital settings or if someone is in a compromised state of health, disinfecting things that many people would use, like gym mats in a public gym. And no one is going to have their immune system affected by staying in an Airbnb or anywhere else that has been thoroughly disinfected. It’s more a matter of living all the time in a place which is keep constantly sterilized that would have an effect.
As far as coronavirus goes, soap and water removes the oily outer layer of the virus, which is what bonds to human cells, rendering the virus inactive. So I myself would use bleach or other disinfectants on things which can’t be washed, and soap and water on the other stuff, at least in my own home. I’ll disinfect the guest space to be on the safe side.
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I have a friend who is an epidemiologist, working actively in the field of Covid-19. I asked her the question about over-sterilizing and weakening immune systems, in light of Covid-19. This is her response:
"Yes, technically the Covid-19 virus would be dead after 72h. But as a guest, I would rather stay at a place that advertised that they wiped everything down. That would inspire confidence that they were taking things seriously and taking proper precautions in all areas. But that’s my opinion.
“As far as the immune system question, you could write a book on it. I mean, should we go back to having measles and chicken pox to boost our immune systems? Some argue we’ve already sterilized our environments too much. Personally, I think there’s a sweet spot between the two.”
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Nope. You were very specific that somehow cleaning your house too often in the pandemic would hurt your immune system.
I am sure YOU (not I) can ‘research such things’ but I doubt you will find anything by an accredited source to back up your claim. I’ll wait.
It’s like the ‘claim’ that masks increase CO2 and are dangerous to wear. I assume, like this claim you made, that surgeons who work in sterile atmospheres wearing a mask for 10 hour operations daily should by now show CO2 issues and immune system problems.
The ranting of moms who are afraid of vaccines also fall into this category. But go ahead, waiting to see your studies that free you from the horror of cleanliness in your airbnb…
Also: “mom” blogs and conspiracy theorists do not count as 'evidence"…
Please take your presumptions about someone you know nothing about elsewhere. I don’t subscribe to “mom” blogs or conspiracy theories. And I certainly didn’t say anything about being lax about cleaning and disinfecting an Airbnb space- I said the opposite.
Get off your high horse. I can assure you that I am fastidious about cleaning the Airbnb space- I’ve been disinfecting surfaces in there from the time I started hosting and don’t have things like upholstered furniture or carpets because I don’t like things which can’t be washed between guests.
I was sure I’ve read similar things but I always like to challenge and check myself and so I went and did some research. I can’t speak for Muddy but these are the kinds of things I read that lead me to believe that too much cleaning/use of anti-bacterial products/over protecting children from “dirt” aren’t helping our immune systems. In the literature it’s known as hygiene theory: that increased allergies is related to decreased tolerance due to lack of exposure to allergens.
https://www.jacionline.org/article/S0091-6749(12)00519-2/fulltext
This article has a good review of the literature on hygiene theory studies
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2567.2000.00108.x
https://www.futurity.org/being-too-clean-can-harm-immune-system/
My own view is that during covid too much cleaning is better than too little. Prior to covid my personal cleanliness and lack of germ phobia was probably not wise. I’ll leave the grisly details out. I enjoy thinking I’ve built up a “tolerance” and that’s why I “never get sick.” 
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It’s one tiny step from “take vitamin c for your immune system” to “vitamin C will protect you from covid as it strengthens your immune system”, in my experience. If taking this vitamin or that herb had such amazing properties that they would have significant difference in the treatment of a virus then we would have been doing that for the last 100 years.
But they don’t.
I’m all for folks having beliefs (as long as they are not pushing them on us) BUT no, your immune system as an adult or child will not be compromised if you are in a really clean airbnb for a few days. I personally prefer clean. And so will your guests. Telling them that it is not really too clean ‘for their safety’ sounds just foolish.
I honestly don’t know where you get this out of Muddy’s post. It seems like you took an innocuous post and made it into something else. Maybe you are confusing Muddy with another member who has posted crazy stuff about what a low level standard of cleaning they employ or compare first world standards to those in much poorer countries?
You’ve gotten out your shotgun and I don’t know why. You’ve been posting here a long time and this seems out of character for you.
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That last sentence for me was a bit of poetic license. Guess I am just like most folks - jittery and scared by the way the world is now. Sorry all…
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Completely understandable. What’s that they say about the fog of war? It’s tough everywhere.
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You are forgiven. I know this is all getting to us. Believe me, I’m not someone who would tell a guest i haven’t sterilized because I think it’s bad for them. I said I would sterilize surfaces in the Airbnb, just as have done from the time I started hosting over 3 years ago. I was just sayng that this spraying everything with Lysol business, when soap and water has been proven to do the job, isn’t something I’d do in my own space.
I am 70 years old and you can be sure I am not at all lax about precautionary measures. I have been isolating for 2 months now, which isn’t that much different than my normal life, as I live in the countryside, am a homebody and work from home. I wear a mask every time I have to go out for supplies, have my hand sanitizer and Clorox wipes in the car, talk to my friends and neighbors from a distance, and won’t be opening my home-share Airbnb until I feel I can do it safely, for both me, and my guests.
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Nice setup! You are always such a class act!
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I do the same. After refilling & cleaning, I spray the dispenser knob & top with Lysol. Probably not necessary, but can’t hurt.
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I love that you put what product is in the dispenser.
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Most of my insight comes from hotels I stay at; Those that have dispensers typically have them labeled with the product, but since my dispensers were generic, I figured I’d post it along side the other toiletries:
- guest can decide if the product is acceptable for their needs. And if they like it, they know what it is rather than asking me.
- if I changed products, I’d just update the posting.
@forestfamily Welcome to the forum
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