COVID-19 and Fogging Efficacy

In the hazardous cleaning and disinfecting field a big shaker lately has been using fogging to address COVID-19 concerns but is it as effective as some would have you believe? Here at BIOClean we want to make sure everyone is as safe as possible, and you can’t be safe as possible without a bit of knowledge. This time on the BIOClean Team blog, fogging and COVID-19.

Fogging for COVID-19

As we all hustle to try and get the world moving again, a critical piece of that process has been how to reopen businesses safely. Lately, the use of fogging has cropped up as a potential tool in the disinfecting of workspaces. The good news is fogging works! That’s because it is a great part of a longer, 5, or 6 step process. The bad news, lots of businesses are doing just the fogging and not understanding why the entire process is necessary, meaning their fogging procedure isn’t as effective as it should be. 

Fogging is easy enough to do, it’s incredibly cheap and can be used to help disinfect huge spaces.  Some companies are leveraging that fact to net huge profits for themselves as they fog fast and furious. But without taking the time to do the other necessary steps in the process fogging isn’t effective, and it isn’t doing the job people hope it is.

Any disinfectant has a specific ‘dwell time’ it needs in order to be effective. That means how long disinfectant sits on the surface to combat microbes living on it before being wiped away. IN many instances people spray down a disinfectant in one hand and immediately wipe it away with their other. This is not effective! The same principle applies to fogging. When fogging alone is used, it is hitting an unclean surface and doesn’t have the dwell time (or concentration) necessary to clean those areas. It is imperative that every surface is hit with disinfectant first, and cleaned correctly.

Here at BIOClean, we have an environment hygienist to create protocols for effective use disinfection of general facilities (we say ‘general’ because some facilities have specific considerations). 

Think of it like this, is a mister an effective way to water your garden? No! You use sprinklers, you use drip systems, and you might use misters for specific plants than benefit from the increased moisture to their leaves. So too is fogging in disinfecting. It works for some things, but it works a whole heckuva lot better when used in conjunction with the other necessary protocols!

Why do businesses feel they can get away with this? There are a few reasons no doubt. One is that COVID-19 can’t be tested for yet in environments and surfaces. Without that test, there is nothing that verifies the effectiveness of the process. That means unscrupulous companies can pitch their services, fog up a warehouse charging whatever they want, and move on to the next site.

Don’t be fooled. If something sounds too good to be true, it frequently is, and when it comes to the safety of your employees and customers you can’t risk it. If you want to go about fogging as a part of a rigorous disinfection protocol you give The BIOClean Team a call, we’re here to do the job right.