
Why does soap work so well on the SARS-CoV-2 - laurentdc
https://twitter.com/pallithordarson/status/1236549305189597189
======
Accujack
It works well because apart from washing the virus away, soap denatures its
envelope, the little "bag" that actually contains the virus.

That envelope is made up of lipids. IE, molecules of fat. Soap+water dissolves
the envelope, so the virus is inactivated.... to infect anyone, it needs the
envelope to be present.

Link:

[https://www.marketwatch.com/story/deadly-viruses-are-no-
matc...](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/deadly-viruses-are-no-match-for-
plain-old-soap-heres-the-science-behind-it-2020-03-08)

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upofadown
Does it? Or is it just all about washing the viruses away? I tried to get a
definite answer and ended up with a whole lot of opinion.

~~~
gpav
Did you read his entire thread? There are 39 tweets that seem to cover the
details pretty well, including the chemistry behind his statements. This link
makes it easy to read the whole thread.
[https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236549305189597189.html](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236549305189597189.html)

~~~
upofadown
It is fairly well known that the class of viruses that the coronavirus belongs
to is fairly fragile. I think my question comes down to; does soap actually
make any real difference in a case where almost everything destroys the virus?
The only viruses that survive are pretty much only those that are embedded in
some other substance. That would mean that the discussion on Twitter about
soap coming intro direct contact with the virus was pointless.

One source suggested that the reason that soap is better was simply because it
caused people to wash their hands for longer.

