COVID 19 cleaning tips for your home or office

During the coronavirus outbreak, everyone is very hygiene conscious and rightfully so. Experts are suggesting it might be some time before a vaccine is created, tested and released so keeping our workspaces and home safe is going to become essential.

When dealing with a virus like COVID19, we recommend some more advanced cleaning precautions. This is because we all want to reduce the risk of infection, even if no one in our vicinity is suspected of having the virus. Here are some cleaning tips we suggest you make:

1. Don’t throw away your current cleaning supplies

There are no miracle solutions, your traditional cleaning supplies are probably sufficient. 

The data on COVID19 is limited because scientists are busy looking for treatments and vaccines, but we know that this is a coronavirus, and with other coronaviruses, we know that everyday disinfectant products are pretty effective. 

You’ve seen the adverts right? Dettol Surface cleanser kills 99% of germs! Well, it looks like that includes Coronavirus too, so that’s good news. Each government or health organization should have a list of products you should purchase if you don’t have one to hand, stick with Dettol or others that boast to kill 99% of germs.

You’ll want to ensure you’re fully stocked with latex gloves and shoe covers and other everyday cleaning supplies too. Like:

2. Let’s start at the front door

When you enter the property, be that your home or the office, remember to avoid any physical greetings, under these circumstances, I am sure the other person will understand. 

Take off your shoes and any outer layers, these are the most likely to have the virus on, so we don’t want to be spreading it as we’re trying to kill it. 

Remember, that if it’s not your home, you’ll still want to keep 2 meters away from other people. It’s tough, our brain switches off as we get inside, but it can be just as important. 

3. Clean your hands properly

It’s difficult to know what is cleaning your hands properly. Using soap, that matters. If you have any disinfecting hand wash that’s ideal but if it’s too harsh on your hands to be using all the time, soap is good enough. 

Just make sure you’re washing your hands for a minimum of 20 seconds and you’re using hot water. The suggestion is to use more soap than usual and be quite forceful, get under your nails, etc. 

4. Open windows and turn on extractor fans for ventilation (if relevant)

Before you start cleaning, let’s make an attempt to clean the air of any potential virus. Especially if others have been in the room recently. By recently, we mean up to 4 hours. 

Start by opening windows as wide as you can. If the room has ventilation or extractor fans, then use them too. 

5. Soap is our friend and an enemy to Coronavirus

It turns out that these viruses, like many children, are not a fan of soap. It breaks up the structure of the virus, which stops it from spreading. 

With that in mind, a bucket with soapy warm water does the trick. Try and clean all surfaces, be generous with the soap, and remember to think about “high-touch” surfaces, like door handles and light switches.

If you’re not sure, clean it twice anyway. In the bathroom, don’t forget to include the toilet itself. 

Once you’ve washed everything down, it doesn’t hurt to use a disinfection spray to wipe down all the surfaces again, to catch any germs that we missed during the first wash. 

6 – The order you clean is important

Think about cross-contamination. As soon as you start touching the high-traffic areas and surfaces, you’ve increased the chances that you have the virus on you. You don’t want to go spreading it around the room you’re trying to clean, so be careful what you touch and when.

You might have your own system, but for us, it makes sense to start with the lower risk places first and leave the more high-touch surfaces till last. 

Remember: some disinfectants require you to rinse the surface once used. Ensure you know if your disinfectant does or you can leave it once sprayed. 

7. Now let’s talk about the soft stuff

We’ve spoken mostly about hard surfaces, things we touch a lot. Like tables, door handles, things in the bathroom, But we need to be cleaning soft furnishing too.

Firstly, try not to shake them. If they have germs, that will just spread the germs, probably undoing the good work you’ve just done. 

Using the soft brush attachment, you can vacuum them. If possible, take covers off and wash them in the washing machine. You want to be washing them at the highest temperature possible without causing damage to the cover, so read the label carefully. 

8. Vacuum all floors

Give the floors a good vacuum before you think about mopping them. The floor has debris, and debris potentially is carrying the germs so getting rid of as much as possible helps reduce the potential for spreading the bacteria as you’re mopping. 

9. Mop hard floors

Now it’s time for a bit of elbow grease. If you haven’t worked up a sweat, you might do now. 

Use warm water and your regular floor cleaning solution. Most of them are designed to kill 99% of germs, so you should be good. 

Try to think about the order in which you mop areas. The goal is not to contaminate areas that you’ve just cleaned. 

10. One last thing before we’re finished

I know you’re busy, but before you consider yourself finished, please remember to rinse your mop head and clothes. If they are machine-washable, definitely do that. 

Wipe down all the materials you’ve just used, use the disinfectant again, wipes if they’re useful, including all handles. 

So you’re done. You’ve followed the steps and your office or home is about as cleaned and safe against COVID19 as we possibly could. All we can do is take as many sensible precautions as we can and following this process you have.