Why does soap work so well on the coronavirus and other viruses? (opens in new tab)

Small study about virus in mucus but hand washing without any soap at all works by physically removing the virus, alcohol based sanitizer by destroying it in place. The study found mucus allowed the virus in question to survive alcohol based gel for longer than expected until the mucus dried. https://msphere.asm.org/content/4/5/e00474-19

That is what the Tweet says. Soap works best, but if you use alcohol, you should use >70% concentration. Jack Daniels won't help a lot in this case.

How do I remember to check this comment back without commenting myself?

Soap is a surfactant [0], and one of its most useful properties is that it reduces the reluctance of oils and fats to disperse in water, which is why soaps are useful at cleaning your dishes, hair, and skin. Many viruses like coronavirus (so called "enveloped" viruses) are only held together by a thin lipid (fatty) layer, so in the presence of soap and water, they basically just fall apart.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surfactant

(regarding muti-tweets, and I agree) https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236549305189597189.html