With the resurgence of the coronavirus, it has become essential to keep your home and its inhabitants safe. While the best way to keep it safe is to avoid going outside, there can be instances when you need to go out for a grocery run.
Due to this, it’s important to follow routines to ensure the home remains safe. These routines can be bothersome, but following them is always worth the effort to keep your home safe and clean.
Follow Safety Protocols When Going Outside
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) set some guidelines if you’re shopping for essentials. If you can order online and have the items delivered, this would be the best thing. But if it’s necessary to go out, always wear a mask. You should also avoid touching your face with unwashed hands when you’re outside.
You should also avoid interacting with people who aren’t a part of your household. To avoid crowds, you can go to the grocery early in the morning or at night. You should also stay at least six feet away from other people, if possible.
If you’re using reusable bags, make sure to clean them before and after using them. When you’re in the grocery, disinfect the cart handles using disinfecting wipes. And if possible, touch only the items you’ll buy. You should also use contactless payment options in the grocery whenever necessary.
Avoid bringing a bag when you go out. Bringing a bag means you might be tempted to put it down on surfaces that might not have been disinfected. If it’s necessary to bring a bag, avoid putting it down on the bathroom floor. You should also avoid leaning it against a store counter. If all of these are unavoidable, you should disinfect the bag once you reach the house. You can leave it at the door or hang it on the wall after disinfecting it. Make sure to avoid putting it on surfaces that have to be germ-free, like kitchen counters.
Follow Safety Protocols at Home
When you reach the house, remove your shoes and leave it outside. Aside from keeping the house free of germs and viruses, the floors will also be easier to clean. You can use a cubby hole to store your shoes outside.
Change your clothes when you reach home. Make sure to put the dirty clothes inside a laundry bin and launder them properly. Taking a shower after going out for an errand is also important. This allows you to keep any germs at bay.
After you unpack the groceries, wash your hands for at least 20 seconds. The risk of getting infected through food products and packages is currently low, so you won’t have to worry about getting the virus through the food you bought. But you should still follow proper food handling procedures.
You should also disinfect areas that are frequently touched at home. These areas include the doorknobs, light switches, handrails, and refrigerator doors, among others. You should also wipe down personal items, such as your phones, keys, and any other item you handle every day, especially if you go out of the house.
Launder Towels and Sheets Frequently
It is important to wash towels after you use them. When they’re wet, they can hold bacteria and germs that can affect your health. If you cannot wash them after using them, you should limit their use to two to three times before washing the towels.
Make sure that every member of the household has his or her own towel. Avoid sharing towels whenever possible. Laundering bed sheets can be done weekly if you take a shower before you go to bed. But the one using the bed is sick, you have to wash it more often.
Hire Reputable Home Service Companies
There can be instances when you need a professional home service to work on issues in the house. You might need to get a professional plumbing company to take care of clogged pipes in the house. Or you need to have some wiring redone in the home. There can even be instances when you need a roofing company to patch up a hole on the roof.
In all these instances, you need to hire reputable home service companies to do the work. These companies normally follow strict health protocols to protect their customers as well as their own people. While they can cost more than ordinary home service personnel, you should not scrimp on expenses when it comes to your family’s health.
With coronavirus cases rising worldwide, you need to keep your home clean to avoid future complications. Following proper health protocols will allow you to protect everyone in the house until the pandemic is finally over.
