Tens of thousands of U.S. businesses are gearing up to reopen after being closed down for months, but do they really need to hire a professional to perform deep disinfection services prior to reopening? Understanding the virus and its ability to maintain infectious properties on various surfaces is important to answer this question. Global health agencies indicate the SARS-CoV-2 (2019 Coronavirus) does not maintain infectious properties beyond five days on interior surfaces; therefore buildings that have been unoccupied for months should be considered low risk for exposure.
It is reasonable to recommend that low risk properties can be deep cleaned using traditional janitorial/custodial procedures without COVID-specific applications. However, some building owners or employers are getting lured into hiring disinfection companies to perform COVID-related disinfection services to provide the illusion that the building is now “safe” to enter. If disinfection services are being performed properly, they are only effective at that moment in time and could easily be re-contaminated five minutes later when an infected employee or the public enter the building. Often, it seems this one-time cleaning and disinfection is nothing more than a psychological play to appease employees and/or the public to feel safe while inside that building.