Antiviral Disinfection For Your Home

Antiviral disinfection – so viral these days.

Everyone knows the importance of cleaning and disinfecting your home regularly. It will keep your home feeling fresh and clean, but it will also help to stop the spread of germs and viruses. Especially now, when everyone is trying their best to keep Covid-19 at bay, disinfection is essential. Some viruses can live up to 2 weeks on hard surfaces, so by cleaning and disinfecting them, you are doing your best to prevent the spread of different viruses between members of your household. Below you will be able to discover more about the importance of disinfecting your house and some tips on how to do it properly:

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The importance of disinfecting

Disinfecting and cleaning are important as it helps to keep you and your family healthy. By taking the time to properly and frequently clean your home with a disinfectant, you will be able to kill up to 98% of daily germs in your household. Remember, that is the difference between cleaning and disinfecting. With cleaning, you are removing germs, but with disinfecting you are killing them. If you only clean a surface, there may be germs and bacteria leftover that you cannot see. To ensure that you are disinfecting correctly, you need to ensure that the product you are using is labelled as a disinfectant. If it isn’t, it may not do what you want it to do. It is also essential that you focus on disinfecting the areas and surfaces that are frequently used by all members of your household. This will be things such as door handles, kitchen work surfaces, and taps.

How to do antiviral disinfection at home

To disinfect your home, you can use either a readymade cleaning solution from the supermarket, or you can create a home solution out of a mixture of bleach and water. You should never use just bleach on its own as it is too strong and could damage your surfaces. You should also make sure that you never mix bleach with any other chemical as it could create harmful fumes. If you are going to wear gloves while you are cleaning, ensure that they are either rubber gloves, that you can use more than once, or disposable latex gloves. Even if you are wearing gloves when you are cleaning, you need to wash your hands properly after using cleaning products.

Before you disinfect surfaces, you should clean the surface with soap and water as this will remove any dirt from the surface, and reduce the number of germs that you need to kill. When using bleach, apply the solution to the surface using a cloth that can be washed after it is used or some kitchen roll that can be thrown away. The solution should then be left on the surface for around 3 minutes and then rinsed off with water. There are also other things that you can buy to help you disinfect your home, such as disinfectant wipes that can be thrown away after you have used them to prevent contamination, and cleaning supplies that have high alcohol content.

How to clean after illness

Cleaning and disinfecting your home is a crucial thing to do frequently, but it is also important to clean more thoroughly when someone is ill or has been ill. This is because you want to try and protect others in your home from getting sick, and anyone else who may enter your home when you think the illness has passed. Some germs and viruses can live on some surfaces for up to two weeks, so if you don’t disinfect and clean your home, others could get ill.

The places that need to be cleaned and disinfected frequently are high touch areas that are used by everyone in the household. These include surfaces such as light switches, door handles, toilets, door handles, taps, sinks, desks, tables, phones, and any other surface that is frequently used. When someone is ill or has been ill, not only do these high touch areas need to be cleaned and disinfected daily, but also more specific areas that will be covered below.

Bedrooms

Often when someone is ill, they will spend a lot of time in their room sleeping off their illness. While this is an excellent way to make yourself feel better, germs and bacteria can be left in the fabric of your bedding. To prevent spreading the germs or making yourself ill again, as soon as you start to feel better, you need to wash your bedding. If you are putting somebody else’s bed sheets in the washing machine, it can be a good idea to wear gloves, but if you don’t have gloves, ensure that you thoroughly wash your hands afterwards. If there are cushions that don’t have removable covers, or you have a child that likes to sleep with a teddy, it can be a good idea to wash these as well as they may also have germs and bacteria on them.

Bathrooms

If you have multiple bathrooms in your home, it can be a good idea to use a different bathroom to the person that is ill. If that isn’t possible, the bathroom should be disinfected every time that the sick person uses it so that the germs aren’t spread to others. The surfaces that should be disinfected frequently when someone is ill include the toilet seat, handle and lid, sink, taps, shower switches, toothpaste tubes, and other toiletries. When you or whoever is sick is feeling better, you should replace your toothbrush, and clean the toothbrush holder. When someone is ill, they should have their own hand towel that they use when they go to the bathroom, and all towels should be washed on a hot wash so that all germs are killed.

Living room

Just because someone is ill, doesn’t necessarily mean that they will stay in bed the whole time. They may want to come downstairs and watch television or come down for a bit of company and comfort. If this is the case, it can be a good idea to cover the couch with a sheet or blanket that can be frequently washed or changed. Remote controls should be disinfected if the ill person is using them, and if you have a child who is playing with toys while they are sick, you should clean these too. Don’t forget about tables that are used for drinks and other things too, as they will be touched frequently.

Kitchen

The kitchen is an area where you have to combat germs and bacteria from food as well as from viruses and other illnesses. This is why it is vital to ensure that you are disinfecting your kitchen correctly. If it can be helped, the person who is ill shouldn’t be making food for the rest of the household. Those who are preparing food should be washing their hands properly and ensuring all dishes are properly cleaned so that there will be no bacteria spread between them. This can be done by putting them on a hot cycle in the dishwasher or using washing up liquid that will disinfect them if you are hand washing them.

All surfaces that are used for cooking should be cleaned and then disinfected with either a bleach and water solution, or a ready-mixed disinfectant solution or wipe. It is better to use cloths that can be either washed or thrown away when you are cleaning surfaces because a sponge can harbour a lot of germs and bacteria if used again and again. You should also take the time to wipe down fridge handles, kitchen cupboard doors and handles, and chairs and tables that people use.

Items that you might forget to disinfect

There are some items that you touch a lot, that you might forget to clean. Here are some of them:

• Mobile phone – You take your phone with you everywhere, so it makes sense that it will pick up germs and bacteria. Wipe them down frequently to remove and kill any bacteria.
• Computer keyboards – keyboards are probably rarely cleaned, but they will be touched and used frequently. This means that they can harbour a lot of bacteria. Before you clean them, you should check the instructions to see if it advises you on how to clean them. Alcohol or disinfectant wipes can be a good option for cleaning keyboards.
• Buttons on appliances – Washing machines, dishwashers, and dryers are used to help us keep our laundry and dishes clean, but how often do you disinfect the buttons on the front? Make sure that you wipe them down frequently.
• Reusable shopping bags – Reusable shopping bags are great for the environment, but they should be washed regularly so that you know that they are clean. If they are bags that you can wash, put them in the washing machine, but if they aren’t, use an antibacterial wipe to clean them inside and out.
• Toothbrush holder – You should change your toothbrush every three months, but how often do you clean your toothbrush holder? Clean it regularly, especially after you have been ill.