the physical scrubbing action and the water flowing over your hands gets the virus off. it's the same way a good scrub cleans dirty dishes.[img]smileys/smilies_01.gif[/img]dish soap doesn't kill the germs, yet they're safe to eat off of again. why? because the physical scrubbing action gets everything off.

that's partly why you have to be careful of too much handwashing in the winter, because scrubbing to hard, combined with dry air can make your skin raw and provide entrance for bacteria (lotion or vaseline or baby oil helps protect agains this)