Cleaning and Disinfecting your home to prevent COVID-19

As COVID-19 continues to spread around the globe, it’s time to make sure you’re doing your best to protect your home from potential infection. While we’ve put other precautionary measures in place such as social distancing, regular hand washing and not touching your face, often we overlook the most commonly entered area in your life – the family home. Are you cleaning your house, particularly the high-touch zones as often as needed? Do you know the difference between cleaning and disinfecting? Now is a great time to create a new, effective cleaning regime to protect your loved ones inside your home. 

So what is cleaning and how is it different to disinfecting?

Cleaning means to physically remove germs, dirt and organic matter from surfaces. However, cleaning does not eradicate germs, only reduces them and the associated risk of infection. It will not be effective in killing any of the germs that were already on the surface. Disinfecting on the other hand, refers to using chemicals to kill the germs on the surface. A combination of cleaning and disinfecting is the most effective way to reduce the spread of COVID-19 or other infections around your home.

Routine Cleaning 

Where do you start? What products should you use? It’s highly likely that you already have the appropriate cleaning products in your house and you may not even realise it. Your usual cleaning methods along with diligent scrubbing can help to reduce the spread of germs. Firstly, clean surfaces with detergent and water, followed by disinfecting with a bleach based solution with a minimum of 70% alcohol. Ensure the disinfectant claims it kills viruses (usually chlorine based disinfectants) and is not an anti bacterial cleaner. Different surfaces require different cleaning methods and products, so ensure you do not damage any of your household items with harsh chemicals during your attentive cleaning!

Cleaning and disinfecting should be focused on high touch areas, such as: 

• Door handles
• Table tops
• Bed rails
• Light switches
• Desks 
• Taps
• TV remotes

If it is possible to wear single use gloves when you’re cleaning, this is ideal. If you have reusable gloves, these should be washed with detergent and water after each use and should only be worn with hands that have been thoroughly washed before each cleaning session.

Carefully clean each surface, with detergent and water, beginning from the cleanest to the dirtiest surface. This reduces the transfer of germs to the cleaner surfaces and allows for easy removal of germs. If disinfectant is required, clean the area first with detergent. Disinfectant will not work if the surface has not been cleaned first and should remain on the surface for the recommended time specified by the manufacturer (contact time) or for 10 minutes if no time is stated on the label.

At Fresh and Clean, we are experts at cleaning and provide hygiene and washroom managed rental programs. We assure the highest hygiene standards in our strict and rigorous cleaning and laundry services.  We allow you to provide a hygienic and safe working environment for your staff as we make sure your working areas are in top condition. Get in touch with us today to discuss how we can help you provide a clean working environment.