“Masks, social distancing, and hand washing are all effective counter-measures against colds and flu.”
To lump masks and social distancing in with soap, in the reduction of viruses, is idiotic. The single greatest help mankind has ever had vs these diseases, is soap. Y orders of magnitude.....
Abridged from The science of soap – here’s how it kills the coronavirus...
Most viruses consist of three key building blocks: ribonucleic acid (RNA), proteins and lipids. The weakest link is the lipid (fatty) bilayer. Soap dissolves the fat membrane, the virus falls apart, and becomes inactive. Critically, there are no strong covalent bonds holding the viral units together, which means you do not necessarily need harsh chemicals to split those units apart.
Human skin is an ideal surface for a virus. It is “organic” and the proteins and fatty acids in the dead cells on the surface interact with the virus. Washing the virus off with water alone helps, but water is not good at competing with the strong, glue-like interactions between the skin and the virus.
Water isn’t enough. Soapy water is totally different. Soap contains fat-like substances known as amphiphiles, some of which are structurally very similar to the lipids in the virus membrane. The soap molecules “compete” with the lipids in the virus membrane. This is more or less how soap also removes normal dirt from the skin. The soap not only loosens the “glue” between the virus and the skin but also the Velcro-like interactions that hold the proteins, lipids and RNA in the virus together.