So, you have questions regarding cleaning and sanitizing your home. When so much misinformation is going around, it is important to get the right information to prevent a coronavirus infection. Keep it simple but regular. Wash your hands frequently and disinfect the high-touch surfaces in your home.
You do not need a deep clean by professionals. Instead, you will have to consider cleaning your home daily to keep the infection at a bay. This simple step can be effective to protect you and your family from the infection. Here are a few things that you can consider to maintain the cleanliness of your home during the COVID-19 outbreak.
Clean & Disinfect
Cleaning and disinfecting are not the same. Cleaning cannot kill the bacteria and virus. Disinfecting will make your home virus-free. As stated by the CDC, you will have to do both cleaning and disinfecting even if none of you are sick. First, you will have to clean your home and then you can disinfect it.
While cleaning will remove contaminants, disinfecting will kill pathogens. You need to do both every day especially when someone has entered and exited your place during this outbreak. The possibility of person to person transmission is more than transmission via surfaces. Therefore, it is a must to clean and disinfect the high-touch places in your home every single day to be safe.
What Are the Targeted Areas?
As stated earlier, the high-touch surfaces should be your target. According to the research report, this deadly virus can live on cardboards for about twenty-four hours and two to three days on stainless steel and plastic. Therefore, you should clean and disinfect your home to minimize the exposure even if you are not stepping out. Every time some essential items or people are coming in, there is a possibility of exposure.
You need to clean and disinfect table surfaces, doorknobs, kitchen counters, hard dining chairs, bathroom counters, TV remote controls, toilets, faucet knobs, light switches, and game controllers. These are some prime areas. However, we all are not the same and our priorities are different. Therefore, you should know the frequently used surfaces and can plan accordingly. If you interact with your laptop, desktop, and mousepads daily, you will have to disinfect all these.
How to Disinfect
You will have to start with normal cleaning. Remove the contaminants, debris, and dirt deposits. You can simply use soapy water for cleaning. After cleaning, apply a surface disinfectant. You can use disinfectant sprays and wipes to disinfect all the possible areas. You can do it daily to lower the risk of the infection in your home.
What Are the Best Disinfectant Products?
The EPA has issued a list of disinfectants. You can find them online. However, you will have to go through the label list to know that a particular product is effective against coronavirus or not. Here are some popular names for your help.
Disinfectant sprays: Lysol, Clorox, and Purell
Disinfectant Wipes: Lysol and Clorox
You can also try Isopropyl alcohol and Hydrogen peroxide.
COVID-19 is not going away anytime soon and everyone needs to take the necessary precautions. If possible, stay home and protect you and the surrounding.