January 19, 2026

Why Medical Facilities Should Trust Bay Towel With Their Laundry

Dez Jennings

In healthcare, laundry isn’t “just laundry.” It’s part of infection prevention. Linens, gowns, towels, and patient apparel can carry high levels of microorganisms when contaminated with blood, stool, urine, vomit, and other body fluids and if those textiles are handled or processed incorrectly, they can become a vector for cross-contamination. The CDC notes that heavily contaminated fabrics can carry microbial loads as high as 10⁶–10⁸ CFU per 100 cm².


When you pair that reality with the ongoing burden of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), it’s easy to see why professional healthcare laundering matters.

The Stakes: Healthcare-Associated Infections Are Still Common

HAIs are infections patients can get while receiving medical care often tied to procedures, devices, or the care environment. On any given day, about 1 in 31 hospital patients has at least one HAI, according to CDC data highlights.


And the burden can be severe. A CDC multistate prevalence survey estimating national impact found ~648,000 patients with ~721,800 HAIs in U.S. acute-care hospitals in 2011.


Laundry alone won’t “solve” HAIs, but when textiles are processed to healthcare standards, they become hygienically clean and contribute negligible risk, provided they’re not re-contaminated before use.


The Temperature Difference: What Healthcare Laundry Targets vs. What Home Laundry Typically Delivers


One of the biggest differences between professional healthcare laundering and home laundering is validated thermal disinfection:

What’s commonly recommended for hot-water healthcare laundering

The CDC’s environmental infection control guidance states:

  • ≥160°F (71°C) for ≥25 minutes is commonly recommended for hot-water washing in healthcare laundry processes.
  • Chlorine bleach can add a safety margin; typical processes aim for 50–150 ppm available chlorine residual during the bleach cycle.
  • Chlorine bleach becomes activated around 135–145°F (57.2–62.7°C).


What many home washers actually run

Most consumer washers’ “hot” setting is often around ~130°F, with warm commonly 90–110°F and many homes set water heaters lower for safety/efficiency (commonly around 120°F), which makes it even harder to reliably reach healthcare-style thermal targets at home.


Bottom line: home laundering is usually designed for convenience, fabric care, and energy savings, not consistent thermal disinfection at healthcare standards.


Chemistry Matters As Much As Heat: Why Professional Formulas Outperform “Standard Detergent”

The CDC is clear that laundry disinfection is not one single factor, it’s a system:

The antimicrobial action of laundering results from a combination of mechanical, thermal, and chemical factors (dilution/agitation, detergents, temperature, bleach, and pH changes).


What healthcare-grade processing does (and why it’s different)

A professional healthcare laundry program is built around control and repeatability, including:

  • Engineered wash chemistry (surfactants + alkalinity builders + emulsifiers) to lift soils and bio-burden effectively
  • Measured oxidizers (chlorine bleach or oxygen-based systems) at controlled concentrations/time
  • pH management (“sour” step) to neutralize alkalinity - CDC notes a rapid pH shift (about 12 → 5) can help inactivate some microorganisms
  • Validated time/temperature profiles and consistent mechanical action


The CDC also notes that oxygen-based bleach/detergents used in healthcare settings should be EPA-registered to ensure adequate disinfection of laundry. 


That’s a key difference from many consumer detergents, which are primarily optimized for stain removal and fabric care at lower temps and typically are not managed with the same dosing precision, contact time, or process controls you’d expect in a healthcare laundry environment.


Where Bay Towel Fits In

Medical facilities choose Bay Towel because we’re set up for healthcare laundering done the right way  with a focus on:

  • Process discipline: consistent formulas, dosing, and wash parameters (not “best effort” cycles)
  • Chemistry built for healthcare textiles: optimized to remove bio-burden and support microbial reduction as part of the full laundering system
  • Reliability at scale: repeatable outcomes across loads, shifts, and facilities
  • Patient-ready handling: hygienically clean textiles don’t help if they’re re-contaminated—so professional packaging/handling practices matter, too!