While we are staying safely in our clean homes, there are times we are exposed to risks to and from the outside world. A perfect scenario would be when we need to go outside for our essential needs or whenever we utilize delivery sources too. Here are practical ways to keep our homes germ free.
1. Always Wash Your Hands
- We all need to make it a habit to clean and sanitize our hands. Clean your hands often with soap and water. Use a 70% alcohol based rub to sanitize.
2. Assign One Entry And One Exit Point, And Allow Curbside Delivery
- To control the pathways of germs, it is best to assign one exit and entry point in our homes. Ideally, this should be from the area nearest your cleaning station.
- Curbside delivery is a no contact delivery that is being practiced now. This means that social distancing is observed while the transaction takes place. This system offers a middle ground between the customer and the courier. This way, business transactions can continue to stay safely at home during the quarantine period while we the essentials that we need.
3. Designate One Family Member As Runner For Your Essential Needs
- if possible, designate one family member to go out for essential needs, this way, possible exposure to the virus is controlled.
- Local government units allot allot up to 2 family members to get a quarantine pass.
4. Create A Cleaning And Disinfecting Station
- A cleaning station is ideally located outside of your main house. The rule of thumb is – nothing enters the house that isn’t cleaned and sanitized.
- A typical cleaning station is divided into two areas. The clean side and the “dirty side”.
- You will need disinfectant, wipes, and a trash can for your cleaning station. A laundry basket comes in handy too for the outerwear you used.
- Basically the outside packaging of our items are cleaned and disinfected because the surfaces are the most exposed areas.
5. Immediately Clean And Disinfect Shoes And Clothes
- Bacteria, fungi and viruses can live on the soles of our footwear for more than three days. Footwear are more likely to carry the coronavirus when they have been used in public spaces.
- Once you get home, clean and sanitize your foorwear. These should never be brought inside the house.
- Footwear should remain outside the house. If possible, use slippers specifically for inside use only.
- PPEs should be disposed properly and immediately.
- Remove outerwear and headgear and put it in a laundry basket of your cleaning station. Immediately wash if possible, and you need to clean and sanitize the laundry basket afterwards.
6. Focus On High Touch Areas And Objects
- High touch areas refer to things that we frequently touch our hands with the most, these may be shared or personal things. Examples are door knobs, flush, handles, cell phones, remote controls, etc. The quickest way to disinfect these are with anti-bacterial wipes, or with paper towel dampened with an alcohol.
- Maintain a protocol for touch areas like having clean hands before touching and wiping objects before and after each use.