Dr. Charles Gerba thinks that finally, finally, things will change. Gerba, a University of Arizona professor of microbiology and environmental science, has performed research for Enviro-Master on the effectiveness of its products for about 15 years. His face adorns the Enviro-Master website prominently with a video testifying to the company’s work.

But Gerba is also well known and oft-quoted as “Dr. Germ” -- a name that has stuck for about 30 years. He gets a lot of press for his research on how dirty school desks are (“more fecal bacteria on a child’s desk than on a toilet seat”), how dirty phones are (“we’re all talking dirty, we just don’t know it”) and how dirty reusable grocery bags are (you don’t even want to know).

Gerba’s interviews are filled with these kinds of one-liners about our disgusting habits and inability to properly wash our hands. But as his team does intensive research on the coronavirus, he’s reflective about ways the crisis will impact our thinking about bacteria, viruses and hygiene. “I think certainly this will impact this generation. There’ll be more of a sense of cleanliness and opportunities to reduce diseases,” Gerba says.

He’s especially hopeful that shared spaces we don’t think of as havens for germs, such as work desktops, break-room countertops and touch screens at retail self-checkout kiosks, will get more attention as spots that need to be cleaned more often.

“I think certainly this will impact this generation. There’ll be more of a sense of cleanliness and opportunities to reduce diseases.”

Gerba and other experts say that in terms of how easy it is to kill, COVID-19 behaves similarly to SARS and other coronaviruses. Common disinfectants, such as Lysol, and dozens more listed on the EPA’s website can neutralize it. But there is still some gray area around the difference between eradicating it completely and eliminating enough that it can’t be contracted.

For weeks, there’s been conflicting information on the best ways to disinfect items such as groceries, countertops and incoming mail. Sprays that can saturate a surface long enough to kill the virus (anywhere from a minute to several minutes) without being wiped off appear to be most effective. Electrostatic sprayers like the ones Enviro-Master uses are not new, but they are gaining attention as word about them grows online.

“I think what they were doing is very forward-looking. Maybe they drank too much one Friday and decided to do this work, but anyway, their timing was perfect,” Gerba says. “There’s also some residual effect, which to me is the future. You can clean up, but then the next person comes in and contaminates the area that’s been treated. Enviro-Master’s product acts for a longer period of time, keeping bacteria down about 90 percent for over five days from what we’ve seen.”

In addition to targeted services, Gerba thinks products and materials that are continually resistant are another promising frontier for fighting disease; anti-microbial clothing and work surfaces are areas he’s eager to study.

The unanswered question is whether services such as the ones Enviro-Master provides will continue to boom or if these companies will eventually go back to business as usual.

According to the research firm IBISWorld, US janitorial services are a $61 billion industry with nearly 2 million employees. Their income is closely tied to the construction industry and both are anticipating a coronavirus-related decline; some large chains are already cutting back due to businesses they serve closing. “There are some special use cases where industry operators can offer new services related to COVID-19 cleaning,” said Griffin Holcomb, an IBISWorld industry analyst. “However, it is likely industry operators are not at full operating capacity, resulting in declines in revenues.” Not every commercial cleaner may last until the industry bounces back. Yet in the weeks, months and years ahead we may need virus killing services more than ever.