Flu cases in Erie County are still on the rise, with more than 700 confirmed cases as of Tuesday. Erie County Health Department officials say about 60% of those cases are people under the age of 18 years old.

As more children are staying home from school, they could be bringing home flu viruses as well. Erie News now reached out to the professional cleaners at Advanced Cleaning Solutions for advice on how to get rid of those germs.

Owner of Advanced Cleaning Systems, Kevin Kreidinger, said it's important to know how to use the cleaners properly. "The surface has to stay wet with the disinfecting cleaner to kill the different viruses and bacteria that might be on there," he said.

Different cleaners have different dwell times, which is the time the surface has to be wet with the cleaner for the viruses and germs to be killed. Cleaner labels typically give a sanitize and disinfect time, but the disinfect time is how long it takes to get rid of those germs.

For example, Clorox disinfecting wipes take four minutes to kill those germs, which means it could take more than one wipe to keep the surface wet enough with the cleaner. In comparison, Lysol All Purpose Cleaner is a spray disinfectant and its dwell time is only two minutes.

It's also important to know what germs the cleaners will kill. Many that say they kill cold and flu viruses also kill other germs like salmonella, staph, and coronavirus, which has recently made headlines due to a large breakout.

Erie News Now compared two disinfecting wipe brands: Clorox and a generic brand called DG Home. DG kills cold, flu, staph, salmonella, pseudomonas and campylobacter. Clorox also kills those germs, but also MRSA, E. coli and strep.