5 Things to Know About Your Disinfecting Wipes

Disinfectant wet wipes are an important tool for minimizing the impact of outbreaks like COVID-19 and the Flu because they are premeasured, premoistened, and do not require any mixing or measuring to be effective. So what do you need to know to keep everyone safe?

Cleaning is different than disinfecting. Cleaning does not kill germs. If you are trying to kill viruses like COVID-19, you need to look for a registered disinfectant. In fact, Fresh Start® Disinfecting Wipes are both anti-bacterial and disinfecting in one step.
- Antibacterial refers to a general killing agent that destroys or inhibits growth of micro-organisms, but is not specific. In the case of Fresh Start, these wipes kill antibiotic resistant bacteria including CA-MRSA, MRSA, VISA, VRE and NDM-1.
- Sanitizing refers to the use of chemicals to reduce a microbial population or bacteria, but not viruses since viruses are technically not alive.
- Disinfecting refers to the use of chemicals to kill germs or deactivate viruses on surfaces. Viruses can reside on hard surfaces and the skin, but they cannot reproduce there.
Check that your disinfecting wipe has an EPA registration number.

IF YOUR WIPES DO NOT HOLD AN EPA REGISTRATION, IT MEANS THAT THOSE WIPES HAVE NOT DEMONSTRATED THE ABILITY TO KILL GERMS ON A HARD SURFACE TO A DISINFECTION STANDARD OF PERFORMANCE. Beware of wipes trying to mislead buyer with an impressive name. Wipes that do hold an EPA registration have proven that performance, and can be used with confidence that you are actually achieving “kill” on a surface. The number may be small font and is shown as EPA REG No: Our Fresh Start Registration number is 1839-190-63584.
Rub the surface and leave it wet. Use the dwell time recommended by the manufacturer to fully kill the germs.

When deactivated on a surface, a virus has no means of replicating. It is important that you leave the sanitizing or disinfecting chemical wet on the surface to air dry. Check the directions for the correct dwell time to leave the surface wet for the targeted bacteria or virus. Fresh Start kills SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 Virus) in just 30 seconds on hard, non-porous surfaces. Kills 99.9% of bacteria in just 15 seconds.
Wet wipes provide additional protection combined with sprayers.

Disinfectant Wet Wipes not only kill Influenza viruses that can linger for up to 2 days on hard surfaces, but they also can help with other high-tech disinfecting approaches. If you use electrostatic sprayers, you will notice droplets falling on surfaces. Grab a Fresh Start® wet wipe to wipe those droplets and attack doorknobs which are usually a big offender. One study by Furniture at Work found that office door handles had 30 times more bacteria than the toilet seat.
Hand sanitizers are regulated by the FDA and have different chemistry to work on hands rather than the chemistry for hard surfaces.

Please contact us for more information on Fresh Start® Disinfectant Wet Wipes or our Solution Wipes® (custom wet wipes with your own chemical solution (QUAT, bleach, etc.) and a variety of dry wipes in reusable buckets).