‘Hygiene theatre’ should be continued post pandemic says local infectious disease specialist

It was coined during the pandemic which refers to frequent cleaning that doesn’t actually reduce the chances of catching an illness. Restaurants are one of the many industries that have had to follow enhanced cleaning procedures.

“We’ve had to do tons, tons of extra. As far as wiping down any surface area that you touched every time. So as far as chairs getting wiped down every time you, the menus getting wiped down every time you touched them, doors, handles, any walkways, wiping down bathrooms several times throughout the day. Tons, tons, tons, and tons extra.” said Fallon Moreland, Owner of White Goose Bistro.

But with more cleaning, comes higher costs. Moreland says the restaurant has spent more on cleaning supplies than in the past.

“We go through a ton of lysol wipes, they’re easiest, convenient, especially for wiping down menus and things like that. Backs of chairs and all that, so definitely more on lysol wipes, but nothing astronomically crazy by any means.” said Moreland.

The excess supplies in disinfectant products could pose a risk to the environment.

REAPS says that there isn’t any statistical data here in the north that show an increase in discarded PPE or cleaning products. But visually, they say they do see an increase through litter and everyday use.

They add that there is a discussion both in Canada and across the globe about discarded PPE’s filling up landfills and oceans.

The BC CDC says that COVID-19 is mainly spread through droplets in the air, however they say the virus can survive up to several days on surfaces. But the chances of catching the virus is still low.

“It is not the main mode of transmission, the main mode of transmission is through human-to-human contact through droplets.” said Dr. Abuobeida Hamour, Infectious Disease Specialist.

Dr. Hamour is an infectious disease specialist in Prince George who says that even if the chances of getting the virus from surfaces is low, keeping these procedures in place is still important.

“Absolutely, we should continue to do that, cause as I said this is another way of ensuring that cycle of transmission is broken.” said Hamour.

Post-pandemic, he thinks it’s a practice that should continue to be adopted.

“We don’t know when COVID-19 is gonna disappear, but even if it disappears or if we are successful in controlling it, there are other viruses. There’s influenza…there are all kinds of respiratory viruses that are quite capable of causing disease and they can be transmitted in the same way.” said Hamour.

The owner of White Goose Bistro says that she’s going to adopt some safety practices after the pandemic, including increased cleaning.

“As far as wiping down chairs every single solitary time someone’s walked by and touched them, I don’t know if that’ll be done as often but still it always was regularly done a couple times throughout the day. but as far as wiping a handle every time someone touches it, I would probably it’s probably not gonna be done as much but probably more than it was done before.” said Moreland.

by Oli Herrera

‘Hygiene theatre’ should be continued post pandemic says local infectious disease specialist

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