Image: United Nations from Unsplash
With this pandemic, cleanliness has been a priority alongside good health to prevent the spread and to combat the disease. Other than the regular hand washing, avoidance from touching the face, wearing of face masks, social distancing, and more. A lot of people are missing some important tips that have been frequently overlooked due to being complacent or being desensitized to the impact of the pandemic, according to BBC.
Here are a few more ways to keep and stay clean in different settings you will find yourself in through this season so that we can live normally again.
How to keep & stay clean at home better:
- Get clean immediately when coming home from outside places, put clothes in laundry then get your body properly washed to maintain a clean and non-contaminated home from outside germs/viruses.
- Keep good ventilation throughout the house, open windows, and allow air to flow, allowing air to come in and out of the house for good ventilation or use an air purifier for better combat of virus/germs particles in the air of home.
- Be generous with your use of a disinfectant. Spray the disinfectant to the area and leave it on the surface for at least 20 seconds to 1 minute or more depending on the disinfectant used. The duration of time that the disinfectant gets in contact with the surface is what allows the killing of germs as compared to swift wipe downs.
How to create your own disinfectant spray at home: the lesser waste & inexpensive way
Items needed:
- Old spraying bottle
- Bleach with 5%–9% sodium hypochlorite
- Room temperature water
- Measuring cup
- Hand gloves
Steps to mixing a bleach disinfectant spray:
- Clean old spraying bottle from old debris
- Put on hand gloves for protection & allow good ventilation to avoid difficulty in breathing from the bleach’s vapor
- Measure and pour bleach with 1/4 of amount into bottle
- Measure and pour the remaining water of 3/4 amount into the spraying bottle
For example: if you have a 30ML spraying bottle, mix 7.5ML of bleach with 22.5ML of water. If you have a 100ML spraying bottle, mix 25ML of bleach with 75ML of water
What surface can bleach disinfectant be used on:
– hard surface that does not adsorb water (non-porous surface)
– kitchen appliances
– bathroom surfaces
*soft and cloth material will destroy the material by discoloration and more
Steps to use bleach disinfectant efficiently:
- Allow good ventilation when using bleach disinfectant by opening window and turning on fans
- Wet surface with spray bleach disinfectant only on hard surface & non-porous surface
- Let it sit and work its magic for 10 minutes on surfaces
- After 10 minutes wipe it down with water or paper towel
*make sure to only use your bleach disinfectant within 24 hours, after a day the bleach disinfectant will not be useable for bacteria or virus killing, make enough for a day use and remake them after that.
If you are doing all of the above, kudos to you for keeping your house free of viruses! If only there were awards for this, we would be the first to present them to you. But if you missed out a few and overlooked in the past, better start now & better late than never and regretting. Our lives are depending on cleanliness at this stage.
We care about your safety and health, because we still want to see you soon or again. Live bold by keeping and staying clean, WOLOist. We need to be in this together, together we can overcome this further, do your part.
Live Bold,
WOLO Kuala Lumpur.
References
1. Wen, T. (2020, July 1). What makes people stop caring? BBC. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200630-what-makes-people-stop-caring
2. How to leave coronavirus behind when you come home (2020, March 30). American Academic of Family Physicians. https://www.aafp.org/journals/fpm/blogs/inpractice/entry/covid19_home.html
3. United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2020, December 21). Ventilation in Buildings. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/ventilation.html
4. United States. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, January 5). Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Home. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/disinfecting-your-home.html
How to Make Your Own Disinfecting Solution with Clorox® Bleach (n.d.). Clorox. https://www.clorox.com/resources/coronavirus/how-to-make-your-own-disinfecting-solution/
5. United States. Division of Public Health Services. (2011, September). How to Properly Make and Use Sanitizers & Disinfectants. https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/dphs/holu/documents/hom-sani.pdf
6. Heffernan, T. (2020, October 5). How to Make (and Use) a Disinfectant Against Coronavirus. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/article/disinfectant-coronavirus.html
7. United States. Environmental Protection Agency. (2020, December 15). List N: Disinfectants for Coronavirus (COVID-19). https://www.epa.gov/pesticide-registration/list-n-disinfectants-coronavirus-covid-19
