A Guide To Disinfecting Your Home – With the coronavirus pandemic, the Singaporean government has extended the lockdown further to June amid rising cases being reported every day. This means that most of us will be spending more time in our homes during the lockdown period.
While we are safe in our homes, you need to be very careful because COVID-19 can still infect you while you are at home. The virus can stay on surfaces of items in our homes and by touching a contaminated surface, it can be transmitted immediately if you touch your mouth or nose.
For this reason, it is important to make sure that your home is disinfected regularly to completely remove the chance of survival of the virus even if you are staying at home throughout the day.
Table of Contents
A Guide To Disinfecting Your Home –
Cleaning the hard surfaces
Recent studies on the coronavirus show that it can live and thrive on surfaces for several days. It is known to be more stable on some surfaces such as plastic, stainless steel, and cardboards. Yet these are some of the most common surfaces in our homes.
The fortunate thing is that if the virus makes it to your home, you can easily kill it before it spreads further with easy and basic cleaning steps.
You do not need to complicate things. Water and soap are enough to destroy the virus. The composition of a virus is lipids and protein that is surrounded by fat-based covering which if penetrated by water are destroyed.
While using strong disinfectants is also effective, you do not need to complicate matters. Remember that you should not be driven by fear but by reason.
For best results, clean the dirty hard surfaces with soap and water and then wipe them off using a disinfectant. This will completely clear off any chance of a virus surviving on such a surface in a long while.
A basic disinfectant should have the following composition
- 1/3 cup of disinfectant material such as alcohol, ammonium salts or bleach per gallon of water or
- 4 teaspoons of this material per quart of water
Cleaning the soft surfaces
Soft surfaces include rugs, carpets, clothing, drapes, seats, bed covers, bedsheets, etc. Cleaning them is easier because basic laundry will just do the job.
The most important thing to observe is to clean them up more frequently to reduce the chances of the virus staying on them for long.
It is recommended that the warmest setting provided by the manufacturer be used since the virus is known to die off in warmer temperatures. Also, the drying process should be done promptly and clothes should be dried completely and no damp cloth should be put back to the wardrobe.
Cleaning other household surfaces
The germs associated with COVID-19 can also be found on household items such as Tv, tablets, touch screens of gadgets such as laptops and remote controls. To clean these items, be sure to follow instructions that are provided by manufacturers which are usually used of alcohol-based wipes or sprays that contain less than 70% composition of alcohol.
Toys and Games
If you have toys in your home, you will attest to the fact that they are most often dirty as children are not conscious of where they place them. Sometimes they play with them on the floor, on the seats and at the same time still put them in their mouth.
To kill germs on them, they should be regularly cleaned with soap and water to reduce the chances of germs surviving on their surfaces.
Protective clothing while working
Be sure to take basic protection when cleaning such as wearing protective clothing such as gloves and a face mask to prevent any dirt coming into contact with you through contact or through inhaling.
The items used should be disposed of immediately and should not be recycled. Ensure that you clean your hands properly after you remove the gloves.
A Guide To Disinfecting Your Home – Conclusion
Always keep a hand sanitizer with you every time you are moving around the house or seated down doing a task or relaxing. Use it after every hour to make sure that your hands are clean and that they cannot transmit the virus to any surface or person.
Keep calm and don’t act out of panic but out of reason. The season will soon be over and a resumption of life is around the corner.
