Introduction
According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), flu activity has been quite low over the last year. However, if you let your guard down, you’ll contract the flu virus. If there has been a person who has caught the flu, you need to take measures to clean and disinfect your home. You can search for “home cleaning services near me” and hire professionals for the job or use the following tips to do it yourself.
The Details
1. Quarantine the sick family member – The flu virus gets a chance to spread around when someone who is already infected and sick sneezes, coughs, or even talks. Similar to the COVID-19 virus, the flu virus is also airborne and can spread up to 6 feet away when a sick person is simply talking or breathing.
The virus can also spread when a sick person touches surfaces like appliances, furniture, and other things in the house. So, if you have a sick person with cold-like symptoms in your home during the flu season, quarantine them in a room with a bathroom. This helps to limit the spread of the virus and reduces exposure to other family members. It also reduces the number of rooms you need to clean and disinfect.
2. Start disinfecting surfaces – The flu virus can live on hard surfaces for 24 hours or even longer if the conditions are suitable. That’s why it’s important to clean the surfaces in your home after the flu has been detected in your home. Disinfect every surface that the sick family member has touched with extra attention to the sick person’s bathroom and bedroom.
For key spots like countertops, remote controls, keyboards, tabletops, light switches, sinks, doorknobs, faucet handles, tubs, and toilets, use a powerful antibacterial cleaner. It’s also important to remember that cleaning is not the same as disinfecting. You need to fill up a spray bottle with a disinfectant solution, wipe it with a clean microfiber cloth on the surface and let that area be visibly wet for a few minutes before wiping it off with a dry microfiber cloth.
3. Disinfect large surfaces and kids’ items – While you can use a spray bottle to disinfect smaller surfaces, that’s not possible when you have to deal with floors and other such large surfaces. For that, you’ll need to fill up a bucket with half a cup of bleach for every gallon of water or get a disinfectant solution that’s approved by the CDC. Mop large hard surfaces like floors with that solution and let the surface be visibly wet for around five minutes. After that, rinse those surfaces with regular warm water and let them air-dry.
After you mop the surfaces of the quarantine room and other rooms, make sure to disinfect the mop head. You can do it by soaking the mop head in a solution of a gallon of water with half a cup of bleach. It’s also important to use proper safety gloves, masks and glasses while you disinfect your home and put everything in the washer along with your clothes after you’re done.
You also need to pay extra attention to kids’ items in the house. Things like teething rings, sippy cups, metal or plastic toys, dishes, bottle nipples, and more such kid’s items need to be soaked in the bleach solution for a while. After that, rinse them with warm water, and let them air dry before they can be used by kids.
4. Better practices for the bathroom – Cleaning and disinfecting the bathroom isn’t enough. You also need to establish better practices to minimize the spread of the virus. During the flu season, replace regular cups with disposable cups and make sure that no one shares each other’s hand towels or bath towels. Instead, get paper towels till the flu season is over. Keep toothbrushes covered in a clean area and separated. You can also use an alcohol-based sanitizer to sanitize a toothbrush before using it.
5. Kills germs in the bedroom – In the quarantine room, place a wastebasket lined with a plastic sheet so that all the tissues are collected in one place and the spread of germs is minimized. Empty it once a day. If the wastebasket has vomit from the sick person, you need to be extra careful cleaning it with bleach.
To minimize irritation and worsen the symptoms of the sick person, keep the room dust free by vacuuming the floor, dusting furniture, and preferably getting an air purifier in the room. Make sure to open the windows every day to flush out stale air and allow sunlight to kill most of the germs.
6. Get the shot – The flu virus evolves and gets stronger every flu season. That’s why you need to get flu shots every year to protect yourself. While flu shots are standard for most adults, it’s a bit different for elders and young children. Elderly over 65 years of age are usually recommended Fluzone High-Dose Quadrivalent, Flublok Quadrivalent, or Fluad Quadrivalent. On the other hand, young children are recommended Afluria Quadrivalent, Fluarix Quadrivalent, and FluLaval Quadrivalent. If you or anyone in the family gets the flu, take antiviral medicine like Tamiflu.
7. Take extra care while doing laundry – When you’re washing the sick person’s clothes, bedding and towel, transport them in a laundry basket instead of directly touching them. After that, wash your hands after throwing the clothes in the drum. You’ll also need to use bleach to disinfect those fabrics. After you’re done, wash the washing machine with an empty cycle of hot water and bleach.
Conclusion
The flu may have been less contagious over the past couple of years due to lockdown measures. Most people stayed at home and that means the flu virus had fewer agents to spread itself. However, with the world back to normal, it’s important to be more vigilant against the flu virus and keep your home clean. You can search for “home cleaning services near me” and hire pros for the job.