Remember when you can walk into any store and buy any number of antibacterial wipes? Those days.

COVID-19 has all of us obsessed with disinfecting our living spaces, and antibacterial wipes (if you can find one) provide a convenient way to do this. At least, if you use them correctly, it is correct.

If you don't use them in the right way, you are not actually killing any bacteria, which may give you a false sense of security that your environment is actually sterile.

Antibacterial wipes are soaked with chemicals that can kill almost all types of bacteria (including the virus that causes COVID-19). But killing these bacteria requires exposing them to chemicals for 3 to 10 minutes (depending on the brand of antibacterial wipes you buy). If you grab a rag and wipe it quickly on the surface, the cleaning fluid will evaporate within a few seconds. There is not enough time to kill any bacteria.

To use antibacterial wipes properly, you should proceed slowly and make sure that the surface remains moist for the time required to kill bacteria. (You can find this information on the product label.) You may find it difficult to keep surfaces such as granite countertops moist for three, five, or even 10 minutes. For this, you may need to use multiple wipes, one after the other.

If you realize now that you have been using antibacterial wipes by mistake, don't despair! Even if the wipes cannot kill the bacteria, they still help to remove the bacteria. This is because the removal of bacteria in the home requires two steps: 1. Cleaning (remove bacteria, such as wipe off), and 2. Disinfect (use chemicals to kill bacteria). So, at least, you wipe the counter to remove bacteria-this helps reduce the chance of getting sick from the counter. (But please note that the benefits of this erasing can be done with cheap paper towels.)

Antibacterial wipes are very precious these days-so if you have antibacterial wipes on hand, make sure to use them correctly.

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