With coronavirus hitting the whole world hard and cases spreading at a fast speed, most of us are now staying at home and being on a complete lockdown to try to flatten the curve of the pandemic. Self isolation and staying at home is now the new normal, and it might be one of the most important ways to save and protect ourselves from COVID-19.
On the other hand, cleaning and sterilizing your home can be a much bigger help in helping you and your family to be safe in these trying times. COVID-19 is an airborne disease and it is an unseen enemy. They can stay on surfaces for several hours and sometimes even longer, and with this, we are not safe from touching anything. This is why it is so important to clean and fumigate any surface where the virus can stay. Some of us might be wondering if the regular cleaning at home might be enough to stop the spread of the virus, and even with the meticulous scrubbing, we don’t know if the gems can be eliminated from our house.
To help everyone and make the cleaning and sanitizing a little easier, we made you a guide of simple ways to sterilize your house amid the disease outbreak. From the basic cleaning and disinfection to using the safe and proper cleaning supplies, here are some measures you need to do.
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Clean and Disinfect
The first and important thing to know is cleaning and disinfecting are different and two separate things. Cleaning is removing dirt, food, germs and other contaminants from the surface while disinfecting is killing those germs and any other pathogens. Even if no one is sick in your home, the experts recommend to do both regularly. Starting with the basics like vacuuming, mopping, wiping furniture and surface, like every day routine that you are doing when you clean your house. However, there are high touch surfaces in our homes that are risky and should be cleaned and disinfected at least once daily to be safe.
High touch surfaces are usually what people at home and outside had in contact with. Examples are doors and door knobs, light switches in all rooms, table surfaces including dining chairs, kitchen and bathroom counters, faucet knobs and even toilet seat and handle.
Although everyone’s home may vary, think about the surface you interact the most, and aside from this high risk surfaces do the regular cleaning and disinfecting at your home. Experts recommend you clean any dirty surface with water and soap, then disinfect right after for proper removal of germs.
Consider Professional Cleaning & Sanitizing Services
Although we are cleaning our house, we never know if we are doing it properly, and if you have worries like this, you can consider companies that render services like Sunlight Cleaning that provides sanitizing cleaning of interior so you can be worry free of spreading the virus at home. While some of us spend time cleaning, the actual cleaning performed might be minimal compared to the germs that we cannot see, doing quick vacuuming and spraying disinfectant might not really help.
Professional Cleaning and Sanitizing services can remove deeper dust, dirt, pathogens and allergens that still remain in carpets, blinds and upholstery furniture even after cleaning. With this thorough cleaning you can make sure that you stop the spread of the virus, not only on the surface but deep cleaning. You can also ask them about the most effective measures that you should take and products to help you kill the virus. Hiring a professional who can do a deep cleaning is the smartest way in keeping your family healthier and safe from any health threats.
Use Safe Supplies
To Clean and sanitize the house properly, you should also use the safe and appropriate cleaning supplies. You should avoid any disinfectants that can pose any threats to your health like chlorine bleach and quats. But instead you should look for fragrance free and dye free disinfectants which have active ingredients like thymol, citric and lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide and the most common is alcohol and ethanol.
Look for registered cleaning products on the market for you to know if they are really safe to use. If you do not have any access to these, you can also use your own household bleach solutions. You can mix five tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water or four teaspoons bleach per quart of water, however, never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser. You should spray or pour it liberally on the surface and wipe it with a sponge or any microfiber or soft cleaning cloth. If you are mopping the floor, get a mop towel to clean even the corners of the house. After cleaning you should properly store all the cleaning supplies and tools to make sure it is safe to use when you are going to clean again.
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We tend to forget that this is the new normal now, we might go outside to do a grocery run and put all the grocery bags inside or walk outside and enter with our shoes on, or lie down in bed with our outside clothes. With these actions we don’t know that we are bringing germs inside our home, and even though you practice social distancing and wash your hands regularly, you still need to put in mind that these deadly germs can be anywhere and stick on your house and surfaces around you.
With a lot of going one right now, it might be giving us anxiety and making us scared. It is hard to move around and go to places without everyone overthinking that we can acquire the virus and bring it at home. What you should do is to read and research further ways to protect ourselves from COVID-19 and it would also be beneficial if you know how to properly clean and disinfect your house, how often and the products that you should use in fighting the virus. Take care of yourself out there and if you have the ability to do so, stay at home.
