Cleaning rope from Covid 19 virus

Speleotron

Speleotron

Member
Maybe the best way to clean it is just to leave it alone for a few days for the virus to deactivate on its own? If you only cave on the weekend then just hanging up your rope normally and washing your hands afterwards should do the trick surely?
 
M

mikem

Well-known member
Links to multiple suppliers included here:
https://www.abaris.co.uk/Coronavirus-COVID-19-PPE-Cleaning-Advice/Manufacturers-Cleaning-Instructions
 
Bob Mehew

Bob Mehew

Well-known member
Whilst Beal & Petzl go along with the leave 3 days approach, Singing River suggest 7 days.  I remain troubled by not having a good set of references on how long the virus can last on different surfaces at different temperatures, in mud / earth, darkness / light and at different levels of wetness / soaking etc.  (What other variable have I missed?)  The government state However, studies of other viruses in the same family suggest that, in most circumstances, the risk is likely to be reduced significantly after 72 hours. see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings .

But my basic take is you need to use disinfectant or above 60C if you want to turn stuff around swiftly. 

It has just crossed my mind that perhaps we should follow the prescient comment of one President Trump and look for a solution involving shining an intense light within the rope?  :LOL:
 
Roger W

Roger W

Well-known member
The problem is that useful disinfectants like Dettol, bleach and fuming nitric acid may reduce the strength of the rope fibres and so weaken the rope.
 
PeteHall

PeteHall

Moderator
This may be a small risk worth considering for a rope access company, using ropes every day, perhaps with a several staff using the same ropes.

I cannot imagine this is a risk that even warrants consideration for cavers, using ropes (at most) once a week, with (at most) one other asymptomatic user.
 
PeteHall

PeteHall

Moderator
In which case, by far the simplest solution is to isolate ropes for an agreed time period (72 hours?) after use, as has been suggested.

But by the time clubs are allowed to reopen, there is no saying that this will still be an issue...
 
caving_fox

caving_fox

Active member
Bob Mehew said:
Whilst Beal & Petzl go along with the leave 3 days approach, Singing River suggest 7 days.  I remain troubled by not having a good set of references on how long the virus can last on different surfaces at different temperatures, in mud / earth, darkness / light and at different levels of wetness / soaking etc.  (What other variable have I missed?)  The government state However, studies of other viruses in the same family suggest that, in most circumstances, the risk is likely to be reduced significantly after 72 hours. see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings/covid-19-decontamination-in-non-healthcare-settings .

But my basic take is you need to use disinfectant or above 60C if you want to turn stuff around swiftly. 

It has just crossed my mind that perhaps we should follow the prescient comment of one President Trump and look for a solution involving shining an intense light within the rope?  :LOL:

It's all a little bit tricky. Some of the cruise ship samples detected virus after 17 days! But it isn't clear whether that was viable virus, or just detectable fragments. It also is not yet known what is the required viral load to cause an infection (and how variable that will be between people and contact methods)
Click to expand...
 
Bob Mehew

Bob Mehew

Well-known member
caving_fox said:
It's all a little bit tricky. Some of the cruise ship samples detected virus after 17 days! But it isn't clear whether that was viable virus, or just detectable fragments. It also is not yet known what is the required viral load to cause an infection (and how variable that will be between people and contact methods)
Click to expand...
Given there is no such thing as zero risk, my take is if the government are saying "the risk is likely to be reduced significantly after 72 hours", then the risk has reduced to trivial levels such that one can ignore it.  However, if you wish to remain cautious, then perhaps you should look at the other hazards involved with going caving and evaluate them to see if those risk levels should also be of concern to you.

Clearly langcliffe's contribution at https://ukcaving.com/board/index.php?topic=26477.msg325341#msg325341 indicates that there is a reasonable survival time in water for similar 'live' viruses. 

Also https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-sewage/how-sewer-science-could-ease-testing-pressure-and-track-covid-19-idUKKBN22Q2PQ states their detection system is based on detecting bits of the virus, not whole viruses and that the bits were not viable.  Perhaps someone can have a look to see if they can find a scientific paper confirming this?
 
SpanSet

SpanSet

New member
We've been receiving requests for information on the cleaning of the ppe SpanSet manufacture, here's the info we posted on our website recently. 

https://www.spanset.com/uk-en/section/current/cleaning-ppe-during-covid-19-pandemic
 
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