How to Disinfect Yourself And Your House

Coronavirus is now a global pandemic and everyone is in a frenzy about getting rid of germs. As there is no cure for the disease yet, the best way to ensure the safety of yourself and your loved ones is to take preventive measures. You need to take all the precautions necessary to ensure that you don’t come in contact with the droplets of sneeze or cough of a person who has the virus.

This sounds simple but turns out to be really tricky because the virus can stay alive on most surfaces and humans touch a lot of surfaces. You need to make sure that you and the area around you are disinfected at all times. Here’s how to do that.

Disinfecting Yourself

1. Washing Hands

So far the best way to make sure there are no germs on you is to regularly wash your hands. You should wash your hands every time you enter your house, after you interact with someone, before eating, after touching a commonly touched surface like a door or a counter. Frequently washing the hands is important because it removes the germs even if you did get in touch with the virus. If you had not washed your hands and touched your face, you could also get infected.

2. Using Sanitizer

The CDC recommends using a sanitizer that has at least 60% alcohol when you cannot wash your hands with soap and water. Alcohol can get rid of germs easily so a sanitizer is a handy way to stay disinfected on-the-go. But remember that sanitizers don’t work on oily hands, so don’t try to replace soap and water with sanitizer. There are many counterfeit sanitizers out there, make sure you buy yours from a trusted sanitizer manufacturer.

Disinfecting Your House

1. Cleaning v/s Disinfecting

The first step to making your home germ-free is to understand the difference between cleaning and disinfecting. According to the CDC, cleaning just includes using soap and water to remove dust, dirt, oil, and other greasy substances from the surface. It is recommended to clean your house regularly. Disinfecting, on the other hand, means killing harmful pathogens using some chemicals. The chemical, in this case, would be a house disinfectant approved by PETA. If you cannot find a house disinfecting spray, you can use a diluted mixture of household bleach. Put the diluted bleach mixture in a spray bottle for convenient use.

2. High-risk Areas

The coronavirus can stay alive on a rough surface like cardboard for over 24 hours, and around 2 to 3 days on smooth surfaces like glass or steel. This means that you need to take care that all surfaces in your house are virus-free. It does not matter whether you have a large house or a shipping container home, cleaning regularly is of utmost importance.

Clearly, you cannot clean and disinfect every single surface every day, which is why you need to focus on frequently touched surfaces that are high-risk areas. These include doorknobs, dining table and chairs, kitchen counter, bathroom counter, remote controllers, light switches, taps, and other such areas.

3. Cleaning Comes First

The proper procedure for disinfecting calls for cleaning first because soap can penetrate through oils that are normally contained in the contaminants while disinfectant cannot. So if you were to just disinfect the house without properly cleaning it first, you would be wasting a lot of effort because much of the dirty places will not get disinfected at all. It is better to first clean using a spray bottle containing soapy water and a washcloth. After that you can disinfect using a household disinfectant, you can choose between wipes and spray based on the surface you are disinfecting.

4. DIY Disinfectant

Since people are panic-buying due to coronavirus, it is entirely possible that you might not be able to buy some disinfectant. Even then, you cannot afford to skip the disinfection of your house, you’re just going to have to get a little creative and make your own disinfectant. In a high-quality empty spray bottle, add 4 tablespoons of bleach to 4 quarts of water, and shake to combine. Voila! You just made some disinfectant. In order you use it you just have to spray it on a surface, wait for 10 minutes while it works it’s magic, and then wipe with a clean cloth.

Conclusion

Prevention is better than cure, especially in the case of COVID-19 as it does not have a cure. You need to be very careful and avoid any opportunities for coming in contact with the virus. Do not attend big gatherings, do not shake people’s hands or hug them, do not leave your home unless absolutely needed, don’t touch your face, and most of all, clean yourself and your house. The key is to not panic and just follow the instructions given by health officials. If you stick to the preventive measures and do your part, soon we will see a bright new corona-free day.