Protect your home from deadly viruses

How do you keep your home clear of viruses?

Given the rising threat of the new coronavirus or COVID-19, it’s ideal to regularly disinfect your home, especially now that we are spending much of our time indoors due to the enhanced community quarantine. Many studies show that COVID-19 can remain in the air for up to three hours, and live on surfaces such as cardboard for up to 24 hours, and plastic and stainless steel for up to three days. Thus, you should try to clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces each day.

You can use detergent or soap and water to clean surfaces. To disinfect, use diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions with at least 70 percent alcohol, or common household disinfectants, which are effective in killing this virus and can be used safely. For easy disinfecting, you can use a disinfecting wipe, like those sold by Clorox. But if you can only find disinfecting sprays, like Lysol, or multi-purpose cleaners, those will work too. When it comes to bathrooms and kitchens, focus on the cupboard and drawer knobs, pulls, and fronts. In kitchens, clean the handles and fronts of appliances, such as refrigerator, dishwasher, oven, and toaster oven.

It is important to clean and sanitize high-touch surfaces like doorknobs, table surfaces, dining chairs, bathroom and kitchen counters, faucets and faucet knobs, and toilet seats and handles. Cleaning will remove contaminants from a surface while disinfecting will kill pathogens. Do both daily if anything or anyone has entered or exited your home.

Most disinfectants should have a label that lists the viruses they’re effective against. If a disinfectant product has an indication for killing influenza, RSB, SARS virus or other coronaviruses, then it should work against this one also. For disinfecting specific areas in the home, any of the following is highly recommend:

• Disinfecting wipes (Clorox, Lysol or store brand will do)

• Disinfectant spray (Purell, Clorox, Lysol, all make sprays that will work)

• Isopropyl alcohol

• Hydrogen peroxide

The best options are DIY remedies of bleach and water, or hydrogen peroxide, as well as isopropyl alcohol. All work to kill the coronavirus, though they may require different dwell times.

If you’re aiming to disinfect a hard, nonporous surface, these solutions are appropriate DIY fixes:

• To use bleach, mix four teaspoons of chlorine bleach with one quart of water, applying the mixture directly to the surface. You’ll need to let it sit for at least five minutes before you wipe it off.

• To use hydrogen peroxide, simply spread it on the surface of question straight from the bottle. Let it set for at least one minute before wiping away.

• To use rubbing alcohol, be sure to source 70 percent Isopropyl rubbing alcohol beforehand. You can also apply directly and let it sit for at least 30 seconds.

Lastly, when coming home from grocery shopping, remember to disinfect your shoes before entering your home. Interior designer Anton Barretto suggests having a cleanup area by the entrance of your condo or living space. He carries a canvas bag so he can spray that as well before entering.

After removing his shoes, he removes his outer clothes so they could go straight to the washer/dryer. Depending on the grocery item, disinfect carefully with Lysol whenever possible.

Keeping the house clear, vacuuming rugs, and keeping the air clear with purifiers like the Dyson Purifier are important measures to prevent the virus from entering the space.

For those homes with gardens, it is also advisable to sanitize and spray insect repellent around this time. I recently tried out B GONE, the first insecticide in the country to use the biodegradable properties of Neem Tree (Azadirachta Indica). The Neem Tree is known as the “wonder tree” from India. Scientific studies show that its pesticidal properties are effective against 400 insects and pests. It is thus ideal in controlling disease-causing insects such as dengue and malaria carrying mosquitoes without being toxic to pets and humans. Pleasant smell, non-greasy formula, B GONE has natural anti-bacterial and anti-viral protection as well.

(Source:  Phil. Daily Inquirer, 04 April 2020, by:  Tessa Prieto-Valdes)