Room Guide To Deep Cleaning Your Home

You've been staying home, social distancing and washing your hands what feels like every 10 minutes. For disinfection, diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol, and most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective. It is important to always wash your hands well and dispose of any personal protective equipment after handling waste.

Showers, bathtubs and counters should be scrubbed clean with a disinfectant cleaner. But you should never mix cleaning chemicals and detergents, or chemical-based products with natural-based chemicals such as vinegar-based detergents. You, no doubt, have questions about cleaning and disinfecting to prevent and contain the coronavirus — there is so much mis- and disinformation going around, and sorting through advice can be overwhelming.

Always wear gloves when handling garbage or garbage bags, and wash your hands afterward. Clean all high-touch surfaces every day (counters, tabletops, doorknobs, bathroom fixtures, toilets, phones, keyboards, tablets and bedside tables). Allow the disinfectant to remain on the surface for the period of time required to kill the virus (contact time) as specified by the manufacturer.

A disinfectant will not kill germs if the surface has not been cleaned first. Lather thoroughly with soap while wearing them, and scrub under house cleaning and disinfection services running water as you would your hands. Cleaning of visibly dirty surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in households and community settings.

The best plan of action is to first clean surfaces by removing the dirt, using an all-purpose cleaner, and then apply disinfectant to get rid of the virus (the first step makes the virus easier to remove in the second step). Most common EPA-registered household disinfectants, diluted household bleach solutions and alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol should be effective, the CDC said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has a list of cleaning products that meet its criteria for use against the 2019 novel coronavirus. The display should be cleaned with isopropyl alcohol (70 percent) solution and a soft towel. Disinfecting: Killing viruses and germs and microscopic organisms.

Based on what is currently known about COVID-19, spread from person-to-person of this virus happens most frequently among close contacts (within about 6 feet). However, many people don't disinfect properly, says Brian Sansoni, head of communications for the American Cleaning Institute, a Washington trade group that represents product manufacturers.