Keeping Your Home Coronavirus Free

The rapid expansion of Coronavirus is forcing us to change how we go about our day-to-day lives. Sporting events, concerts and large gatherings are being canceled or postponed. People are being encouraged to work from home and schools are being canceled across the country.

With things like self-quarantining, isolation and social distancing becoming the norm, how can you ensure that you’re not bringing the Coronavirus into your home? 

We know that not everyone is able to work from home, and trips to grocery store, pharmacy, doctor’s office or place of employment are inevitable in the coming weeks. Below are a few simple steps you can do to keep the Coronavirus from entering your home.

WHEN YOU FIRST GET HOME

When you first enter your home, we recommend doing three very important things:

• Removing Your Shoes
• Removing Your Clothes
• Washing Your Hands

SHOES

Even without Coronavirus concerns, this is something you should be doing. Researchers have found that roughly 40% of shoes carry Clostridium difficile, more commonly known as “C.diff.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24657158. This bacteria is resistant to most antibiotics, so why trek this – or any virus – throughout your home.

CLOTHES

Coronavirus will live on fabric, including your clothes. Since the virus is an airborne virus, it could potentially latch on to your clothes if you’re within six feet of someone with the virus. Research is still being done on how long the virus will survive on fabrics and early studies have varied with a consensus being somewhere around a few hours.

Removing your clothes and washing them in warm to hot water is strongly recommended.

For more information on how long the virus can live on surfaces, I recommend visiting the Journal of the American Medical Association website. 

HANDS

This has been stressed excessively and for rightful reasons. This is the single most important thing you can do to avoid the Coronavirus. Wash for 20 seconds, with soap and warm water. 

We found a great tool in Wash Your Lyrics that will outline step by step how to wash, while you sing your favorite song.

By mitigating the potential of bringing the virus into your home, maintaining a clean home is important to keeping your home potentially free of the Coronavirus.

START WITH CLEAN SURFACES

Doorknobs, hard surfaces, light switches, countertops, tables; any hard surface that gets touched should be cleaned and disinfected daily. 

The virus can last on hard surfaces for several days. Source: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.03.09.20033217v1.full.pdf

This is why cleaning and disinfecting is such an integral step in keeping your home Coronavirus free.

DON’T FORGET THE AIR

When in your home, you’re only as healthy as the air you breathe. Here at HomeCleanse, we take a great deal of pride in the efforts we do to remediate mold from our clients’ homes and enable them to live and breathe again in their homes.

Having air purifiers with PECO technology are an important component to keeping the air you breathe in your home free of any potential virus.

I was recently quoted in an article on Digital Trends discussing air purifying and the Coronavirus.

Michael Rubino, President and an indoor air quality expert with HomeCleanse, added more caveats. “There are air purification technologies that can destroy biological contaminants such as mold spores and viruses (such as H1N1 & SARS),” he said. “However, the technology is not just HEPA; air purifiers that utilize Photocatalytic Oxidation (PCO) release ions into the air that bind to these contaminants and destroy them. There are certain air purifiers that utilize filtration in addition to PCO, such as Air Oasis iAdapt Air.”

WHEN YOU’RE OUT IN PUBLIC

Take the following common sense steps when out in public:

• Avoid close contact with people who are sick
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
• Be mindful of touching surfaces; doorknobs, ATM machines, elevator buttons, etc.
• Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then discard the tissue in the trash
• Wash your hands often with soap and water

Lastly, it’s important that we stand together as a nation to resist fear while remaining vigilant in protecting ourselves and our communities against the virus. If we all work together to follow these simple steps, we can defeat the impending virus swiftly, saving lives and limiting the impacts that the virus will have on our nation.

Michael Rubino is the President of HomeCleanse, the nation’s leading company for indoor air quality services for immunocompromised individuals. He is on the council for the National Small Business Association, representing small businesses to members of congress. He holds multiple state licenses with the Department of Labor, is certified by the IICRC and ACAC and he is a contributing member, educator, and sponsor of the IAQA.

Still Have Questions?

A member of our team is here to help!  Click on “Get Started ➤” below to book a consultation with a member of the HOMECLEANSE team. We have a few quick questions that will help us put together a roadmap to solve or prevent all of your mold problems.

Two minutes of your time could lead to better health for you and your family.