With a new COVID-19 variant making its presence known every few months, it’s only natural that people are wondering how they can keep themselves safe against the virus. After all, there’s been so much misinformation regarding COVID-19 in the past two years that it’s difficult to ascertain what you can and can’t believe anymore.
Sure, keeping your homes (and yourself) clean can help, but that’s the most basic advice. The question is: how do you keep your homes and workspaces free from the deadly virus? Well, it turns out, pest control can help…or can it? Again, with so much false and unverified information making the round these days, it’s not easy to tell.
So, we’ll get to the bottom of this once and for all. Let’s talk about whether pest control products can protect you from COVID-19. To understand whether pest control products are effective against COVID-19, you first need to understand the role that pests play in spreading the virus.
Firstly, as you might know, you cannot get infected with an insect bite. While many diseases are transmitted this way, the coronavirus simply isn’t one of them. However, after some amount of research, we now know that COVID-19 can stay on different surfaces for several minutes, even hours together. So, while it’s not always likely, it’s not outside the realm of possibility that pests can bring the virus into your home.
In such a scenario, it’s not difficult to see how pest control products would help you keep infection at bay. Besides, using pest control products and thorough disinfection will enable you to keep your living spaces clean, which is always a good thing. Keeping your spaces clean and pest-free can therefore reduce your chances of contracting the virus.
However, this is more to do with the general benefits of pest control and less to do with how pest control products can combat the virus. As for the latter, research is woefully limited. Even though research on it is limited, we do know a thing or two now about how certain pesticides can inhibit the spread of coronavirus.
In many cases, pest control companies are relying on antimicrobial pesticides to prevent the virus from inhabiting surfaces. These products fight microorganisms like viruses and bacteria that live on surfaces and infect humans. The use of antimicrobial pesticides is quite widespread and you likely use them already.
These products aren’t particularly difficult to get your hands on (if you’re just starting your pest control business), so you needn’t worry about that. Besides, if you consider disinfectants as pesticides (which they are!), then you can see how they’re more than effective at keeping your living spaces COVID-19-free.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has conducted adequate research on the effects of certain disinfectants on the virus. Thankfully, it has been found that common disinfectants used by pest control agencies can kill the virus and its variants. Also, the EPA checks out the claims of various pesticide companies that involve killing the virus and verifies them. After all, since there are so many fraudulent claims out there, this is hardly surprising.
Only after a company that produces disinfectants tests its products on the virus will the agency allow it to advertise its claims. Therefore, if you come across a disinfectant (or antimicrobial pesticide) that claims it’s effective against the coronavirus, then you can take it to be the truth.
If you’d rather not go through every such product looking for whether or not it can kill the virus, we have an alternative solution. You can have a look at this list that specifies the products you can use against COVID-19. With the help of this list, you can look for these products online and decide which ones you want to invest in.
Reliable studies have shown that disinfectants are among the most effective COVID-19 killers available today. Since they’re pesticides, this is the right incentive for pest control companies to double up on their use of these products. Also, over the past two years, pest control services across the country have witnessed a rise in demand despite most other businesses struggling to sell their products and services.
So, from a purely business point of view, the use of pesticides to prevent the spread of COVID-19 can be used as a great pest control marketing strategy. If you’re honest about the products you’re using and their role in keeping people safe, then it’s not difficult to see why customers will place their faith in your company. Think about it this way, customers that are willing to spend on pest control services every so often would ideally spend their money on those that involve the right kind of products, wouldn’t they?
Also, there’s promising research regarding the role of Citriodiol in reducing the growth of SARS-CoV‑2, which is responsible for the spread of coronavirus among humans. However, it’s noted that you’d need this ingredient in a sufficiently high concentration for it to have any impact on the virus. So, you can look for products like Mosi-guard that contain this ingredient to help your clients stay safe and COVID-19-free.
Therefore, you can see how pest control products play a role in slowing down the spread of COVID-19 among humans. However, you have to be careful to use these products to your best advantage and the advantage of your clients by putting inadequate research regarding which products are truly effective and which aren’t.
