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– The National Institute of Public Health fails with its advice. The advice has negative consequences for the environment and is difficult for students to follow, for example, says lead researcher Ingun G. Klepp at Sifo.
Hilde Grote (left) bought a face mask at Byporten in Oslo this week. But how should the mouthpiece be washed after use? Experts disagree entirely. Photo: Jan T. Espedal
– The National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) should give people good, simple advice about the reality they live in, says Ingun G. Klepp, principal investigator at the Sifo Institute for Consumer Research at Oslo Met.
She is an expert in the washing habits of Norwegians and has written the book, among other things. Easy care. Clean clothes with little work and environmental impact.
Klepp reacts strongly to the institute’s advice on washing fabric face masks.
Few washes at 60 degrees
The main advice from FHI is to wash a nozzle at 60 degrees in a washing machine. Questions about alternative methods are dismissed as unsafe.
Klepp feels pretty confident that whether a bandage is kept for a few days (to kill the virus) or put in boiling water, it will be rejected without a good professional foundation.
She points out that fewer and fewer Norwegians wash clothes at 60 degrees. And they don’t do that every day anyway. If you are going to wash a bandage like this, she thinks it will be an “energy drain”, and that assumes you have a lot of bandages.
A colored mask in bleaching can also color all white. Furthermore, he believes that it will be practically impossible for students, who rarely have their own washing machine in the student dormitory, to wash a bandage frequently enough if they have to do it that way.
Believe in “quarantined” face masks
– The virus does not survive alone for long. Studies indicate that it does not live long on porous surfaces, not many days. The National Institute of Public Health gives vague advice on such a “quarantine,” says Klepp.
The response from Hanne-Merete Eriksen-Volle, acting director of the National Institute of Public Health, came to Aftenposten earlier this week is that “it may be enough to leave it for a day or two”, but that FHI recommends washing.
Klepp believes that FHI should be able to advise people that the mouthpiece should be in place for as many days at certain temperatures.
– Then they can add a margin of safety, she says.
Klepp believes that this can also be a good method of getting rid of the virus on clothes and bags if you have been in contact with the virus.
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Fortunately, FHI can do a lot. But they can’t wash clothes.
Believe the kettle works well
Klepp thinks pouring boiling water over the nozzle will also work well. He also notes that it is more environmentally friendly than using a washing machine.
FHI does not recommend boiling water because they are not sure “how the ability of the substance to filter the virus can be affected by such a high temperature.”
Klepp thinks they can find out. She points out that many people sew on their own mouthpieces and know nothing about the drug’s ability to filter viruses in the first place.
– If the cotton shrinks in the wash or in boiling water, it will probably increase the ability to filter viruses, he says.
It also notes that wool is excluded as a fabric in a bandage, if FHI advice is to be followed. Wool will not stand up to a 60 degree program on a machine, but it can stand up to boiling in a pot or boiling water over it.
– How about using the steam iron on a mask? Would NIPH not recommend it either?
– Is it an assumption or has it been tested? Then they must document that the filtering capacity will be less, he says.
Wash clothes in cold water in some countries.
Klepp also reacts to Eriksen-Volle’s answer on why you have to use a 60 degree program on a machine, as long as it lasts to wash your hands with warm soapy water.
She believes the FHI director makes misleading statements about the mechanical difference between hand washing and machine washing.
And he wonders if FHI knows if hand soap kills the virus more effectively than detergents used in machines. If these agents have the same properties, she does not understand why the virus will not deactivate even on a machine at a temperature below 60 degrees.
NIPH: Does not have specific knowledge of everything
– We are well aware that some people want more detailed advice on cleaning sanitary napkins. But we want to give advice based on the knowledge we have. We do not have specific professional knowledge about the alternatives Klepp is proposing, writes Eriksen-Volle of the National Institute of Public Health in an email.
She says that FHI does not have the facilities and equipment necessary to test the filtration capacity of different types of cloth bandages, and how these are affected by different cleaning methods.
– Therefore, our recommendations are based on the minimum requirements defined by a European working group, he says.
According to these, the cloth handkerchiefs must “withstand the number of cleaning cycles specified by the manufacturer (at least 5 cleaning cycles) at a minimum washing temperature of 60 ° C”.
