How to Clean your Home to Protect Yourself and Others

The COVID-19 virus probably has you spending just about all of your time at home these days, so it’s important to expand your preventive measures beyond hand-washing to actively disinfect surfaces throughout your home – including those that are touched often but frequently overlooked in cleaning.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the COVID-19 virus can remain viable on a hard surface for hours or days, so it’s important to pay attention to the high-touch parts of a home, and especially those you normally don’t disinfect.

Fortunately, you don’t need industrial cleaning products to disinfect your home. Many of the cleaners that are probably already in your cabinet and help cut down on the spread of bacteria and viruses are also effective in killing the coronavirus.  “What’s most important for consumers to realize is what they can do … isn’t too far different from their regular cleaning practices,” says Brian Sansoni, senior vice president of communications, outreach and membership at the American Cleaning Institute, an organization that represents the makers of cleaning products, based in the District of Columbia.

Here are 12 places in your home to clean to prevent the spread of illness, including the COVID-19 virus:

Doorknobs

You may be able to calculate how many times you touch a single doorknob on a daily basis, but then you have to consider every other door in the house and how many times they are touched by different hands in a day. Especially while everyone is at home for an extended period of time, disinfect all doorknobs a couple of times a day. While social distancing may cut down on the possible viruses and bacteria that family members would otherwise pick up in the outside world, it’s possible that a family member is simply not exhibiting symptoms of an illness yet.

Light Switches

Light switches are another high-touch spot throughout your house that should be disinfected daily – more than once a day when the flu or another virus is going around. Disinfectant wipes should be sufficient, as they would be with doorknobs, or follow the label instructions on the bottle of a spray disinfectant.

Handles

Take a look around your kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and other spots and notice all the handles you’re likely to touch, including dresser drawers, cabinet handles, the oven door and even the buttons and handle on your microwave. “Plenty of people wipe the stove, but they rarely spend any time on the knobs,” says Rick Williams, CEO of SafeSpace Disinfecting Innovations, based in Springfield, Missouri.

Hard-Backed Chairs

Hard-backed chairs often fly under the radar when you’re cleaning, so be sure to disinfect chairs that are sat in frequently, and make sure to get the backs that are touched by hands to pull out or push in the chair from a table.

Desks

You’re working from home, and your kids are now doing some informal homeschooling, so any desks will likely be touched often. Disinfect these surfaces a couple times a day if they’re being used throughout the day.

Tables

Tables serve as makeshift desks for kids doing homework, home base for family dinners and a temporary spot for purses or backpacks – after they sat on the floor in a public setting. Disinfect your table more than once a day, especially before and after meals.

Countertops

Like your kitchen or dining table, countertops become a catchall for items that were outside the home recently, but also for the food you’re about to prepare for dinner. Sansoni recommends cleaning and disinfecting your counter surfaces frequently, particularly before and after food preparation.

Toilets

You already think of a toilet as a little gross, and hopefully you already clean it regularly. However, when viruses are spreading easily and you’re concerned about them transmitting from one family member to another, step up your toilet-cleaning game. Disinfect toilets daily and be sure to focus on areas touched by hands, including the flush handle and edge of the toilet seat.

Faucets

As you wash your hands frequently throughout the day, you’re also frequently touching faucets. But have you disinfected the faucet itself? Spray or wipe faucets in your sink, tub and shower a few times throughout the day to avoid the chance that one person will spread a virus to another.

Sinks

In addition to faucets, disinfect the entire sink while you’re at it. The kitchen sink should be disinfected daily, particularly before and after food prep that exposes more items to potential viruses and bacteria.

Remote Controls

There’s a good chance you’re watching more TV these days while you’re social distancing, so include your remote control on the list of items to clean. This can be done by “using a disinfectant wipe on that a couple of times a day,” Sansoni says.

Toiletries and Makeup

Your toothpaste, face wash and even makeup containers are items you probably touch once or twice a day but never get cleaned. Viruses aside, Williams points out that people often touch the toothpaste tube to brush their teeth after having gone to the bathroom without washing their hands first.

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