The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) came out with a list of disinfectants that work best at protecting the home from the Coronavirus in January. It has since then updated the list, which now contains 40 more new products. Meanwhile, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) posted their own guidelines on how to clean and disinfect your home. They stated that alcohol solutions containing at least 70% alcohol can help in keeping the Coronavirus away, but you should allow these to stay on surface for at least 30 seconds.
However, nothing beats soap and water in washing your hands and even in cleaning your home. While disinfecting helps you protect yourself and your family from any virus, it won’t actually be as effective if your house has not been cleaned beforehand.
You can hire professional cleaners to do the cleaning and disinfecting for you. You can also be the one to do it. Here are the proper ways to do it:
– According to the recommendations made by the CDC, you need to clean every dirty surface of your home with soap or detergent and water first and these should include floors, walls, and windows.
– Once everything has been cleaned, it is time to disinfect. You can use store-bought disinfectants (please see our blog about the Best Natural Home Disinfectants) or you can make your own. Hydrogen peroxide solutions or products are the most natural and fast-acting disinfecting agents you can find.
Note: Whatever cleaning or disinfecting agent you use, make sure that you let it remain for as much time as it needs to kill any type of virus or pathogen. While there are products that need to stay on for 10 minutes, hydrogen peroxide or hydrogen peroxide-based products can act against viruses within a minute.
– The areas in your home you should prioritize in cleaning and disinfecting daily are the surfaces that are touched frequently. These include counter tops, doorknobs, desks, chairs, tables, keyboards, light switches, remote controls, faucets, toilets, sinks and their fixtures, toys, and handles of appliances, among others.
where you are at.
Here are several areas of your home you should pay special attention to when cleaning and disinfecting:
Bathroom
– Disinfect fixtures and handles not just of the sink and toilet, but also those of the drawers, window latches and medicine cabinets. Also include soap dishes and bathmats.
– Place hand towels to use for drying your hands after washing. It is even best if you designate one hand towel for every person in your home.
– Make sure you don’t keep damp towels in the bathroom. These are excellent carriers of the Coronavirus droplets than hard surfaces.
Kitchen
– When you disinfect the doors to your freezer and fridge, do not forget to do the same to the handles of vegetable drawers and the shelves inside.
– Soak your reusable grocery bags in soap and water after you use them. They can be virus carriers, too, if you overlook cleaning them.
– Clean and disinfect your silverware drawer. While you make an effort in keeping your silverware safe to use, do not forget to clean the place where they are kept.
– The kitchen is where you prepare your food, so it is one of the places you should take care of the most in your home. Make sure that you keep a checklist of all possible surfaces you need to clean and disinfect so you don’t leave anything out.
Bedroom
– Pillowcases are among the things where airborne droplets can be found, so these should be washed as often as possible.
– If you have trash cans in your bedroom, make sure these are emptied daily especially if it is not covered. This is an ideal place for germs to congregate.
– Remember to disinfect drawer handles, remote controls, curtain pulls and light switches, even those for the bedside lamps.
Electronic Devices
– Use rubbing alcohol to clean electronic devices like laptops and cellphones. This is the best way to disinfect the surface of these devices without the risk of water damage. As alcohol evaporates fast enough, you can wipe it on your device with the use of a microfiber cloth.
Other tips:
– Wash your hands after you spend time with your pets, especially if you have touched them. Pet fur are possible hosts of the Coronavirus droplets.
– Disinfect your vacuum cleaner after you use it. Empty its canister and wipe its insides with a cloth soaked with a disinfectant solution. Let this dry up completely before you close it back up.
At this time of the Coronavirus, cleaning and disinfecting your home is making sure that you and your family are protected. Doing this will ensure that you are part of the solution and not the problem of the continually increasing confirmed cases in Canada. As of March 19, the country already has 736 confirmed cases of Coronavirus with 257 of these coming from Ontario and 231 from British Columbia. So, be responsible and help stop spread the virus right from where you are at.
