With recent outbreaks reported all over the news globally, you may be concerned about the “novel” Coronavirus (aka COVID-19) possibly coming to your neighborhood, and perhaps onto your doorstep, of which there are now 39 confirmed cases in Ontario, Canada as of 10/03/2020. While there’s certainly no need to panic, being precautious, informed and aware is important.
Coronavirus is a potentially life-threatening family of viruses that cause serious symptoms such as the common cold and escalated fever e.g MERS SARS and other respiratory conditions including new strains of the virus. While you may be worried about the Coronavirus, taking preventive measures can help you from getting sick and protect you of your health, in public, at work, and at home. Cleaning is one way to help prevent this.
(Disclosure: while we at Spar-Clean Inc are professionals at residential and commercial cleaning, we are not advisors on the COVID-19, of course, however, we hope we can do our part in informing you on some cleaning practices, doing what we do best).
Should you deep-clean your house or office space to help fight off risk of Coronavirus?
Health advisors have focused a lot on the importance of washing your hands well and frequently as it’s said to be one of the most effective ways of protecting yourself from the new disease, especially after every outing, with soap and hot water for 20-30 seconds. If soap and water is not available, then alcohol-based sanitizer is good to use also. Don’t forget to disinfect your phone! (the virus can likely live up to 96 hours on phone screens). And you’re probably washing your hands wrong. Here’s a short 1.5 minute tutorial by the WHO.
Now, as the risk of Coronavirus comes closer to home, many people are starting to worry about the germs living inside their own homes and what they can do about it. This is where Spar-Clean Inc can help.
Deep-cleaning your house and clothes is a good way of taking preventive measures. In fact, disinfecting is actually one way to kill the bacteria and the virus, and it’s a two-step process. It’s also something that’s done after the cleaning.
According to York Region news, the risk of public contracting COVID-19 remains low despite 5 cases in York Region. However, even before cases were confirmed in Ontario, our cleaning service business, Spar-Clean Inc was already preparing. We are trying to keep up to date and the Spar-Clean Inc staff have obtained all the proper cleaning products and practice that will be needed for deep cleaning.
Disinfect common touch surfaces on a daily basis
While it’s still early in their research, The World Health Organization (WHO) believes COVID-19 may survive on surfaces for a few hours or even several days. So, it’s important that you wash your hands thoroughly and use sanitizer if you’re still touching surfaces that you know are not sanitized, that’s what’s important to be aware of.
If and when you do your own detailed cleaning for your home or office, do note that many common disinfectant products, including sprays and wipes, need to stay wet on a dirty surface for a certain amount of time to actually be effective. For example, if you apply the product for just a few seconds, it’s most likely not going to work. And you should use strong enough disinfectant cleaning product agents.
Unfortunately, Coronavirus, and of course other germs and bacteria can linger on surfaces such as light switches, remote controls, computer keyboards, desks, doorknobs, countertops, faucets, and refrigerator handles, etc. So we urge people to practice good hygiene and to clean and disinfect their living and workspaces. Often many certain items or surfaces are even disregarded, from weights at a gym, toys at a daycare center, legs on the table, to pens or pencils we write with, these are often overlooked and could be carrying germs, bacteria, and viruses.
Recommended cleaning tactics
Depending on the cleaning solution and the item you are cleaning, use a proper spray disinfectant or bleach wipes to clean these surfaces daily and make sure the surface stays wet for up to 10 minutes so it effectively kills the virus or whatever bacteria may be there. This will limit the risk of the virus lingering on the surface and potentially causing infection or bacteria from spreading. Strong cleaning products like Lysol sprays, for example, can even sanitize a surface in as little as 10 seconds, according to the product’s instructions; but in order to fully disinfect a surface, the longer the better and it’s best to leave the surface visibly wet, for example at least 4 minutes when using a product like Lysol.
Depending on how many people live in your home, and if they are at all sick, you may need to change your cleaning tactics from simply sanitizing something to fully disinfecting with bleach or other strong cleaning solutions.
Everything we use at Spar-Clean Inc is a disinfectant and we make sure it’s suitable, along with frequently disinfecting the equipment we use. We believe that with the right products and proper detailed and deep cleaning, germs and bacteria can be prevented or limited, so we really do urge people to practice good hygiene and to clean and disinfect their living and workspaces.
The best practice during any virus, however, is to avoid contact with people who are sick and by doing your best to eliminate germs as best as possible, for yourself and others.
Disclosure: While we at Spar-Clean are professionals at residential and commercial cleaning, we are not advisors on the COVID-19, of course, however, we hope we can do our part on informing you how we can help with cleaning, doing what we do best.
For more information about residential and commercial cleaning services, please visit the Spar-Clean Inc website.
You can find official sources about COVID-19 e.g. here.
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