by Amelia Janaskie
The American Institute for Economic Research
We’ve spent the better part of a year drowning in cleaning products, somehow certain we are scrubbing the virus off surfaces so that we don’t get sick. It seems to fit with a certain intuition that the bad germ is not within you or me but must be sticking to some surface. It’s a mental habit from time immemorial to externalize the pathogen. With the wide availability of cleaning products, we all went crazy to get the invisible enemy.
Even now, governments require businesses (or businesses may choose) to clean more than necessary, which results in businesses’ giving up other tasks. While excessive cleaning may appear effective, an article from The Washington Post argues “We are over-cleaning in response to covid-19.”