How to Clean Your House for COVID-19

No, you don’t need to wrap your house in plastic or erect an air bubble around it. Neither do you or your family need to don space suits.

In fact, all it takes are a few simple steps to help keep COVID-19 at bay inside your own home.

Rule #1: take steps every day to keep your home virus-free, even between regular cleanings. To be effective, arm yourself with sprays or wipes that promise to kill 99.9% of germs. If you’re using a spray, use disposable wipes or washable cloths, never a sponge.

Clean Your House for COVID-19

If you can’t acquire either, washing down surfaces with soapy water should accomplish the same goal. Just add a few drops of dish soap to eight ounces of water. And while soap and water won’t kill all germs, it should be able to remove coronavirus and other germs.

The most important areas to keep clean are “high-touch” surfaces – those places and objects where family members leave fingerprints throughout the day. These include:

  • Light switches
  • Door knobs
  • Refrigerator and microwave doors
  • Drawer handles
  • TV and other remote controls
  • Counters and tabletops where you cook and eat
  • Toilet handles
  • Faucet handles

How thorough should you be?

Don’t be stingy with the spray or soap, and scrub vigorously. Just when you think “that should be enough,” go the extra distance. You know, better to be safer than sorry.

“I try not to be neurotic about it,” says Dr. Kryssie Woods, hospital epidemiologist and medical director of infection prevention at Mount Sinai West in New York. “But wash your hands when you get home and try to clean some of those high-touch areas.”

Also, it’s a good idea to wear gloves while you clean but, if none are available, just be sure to wash your hands and wrists thoroughly when you’re finished.

For added precaution, and if you do have gloves, be sure to wash them after each use.

Finally, when you get home from wherever your travels might take you, take off your shoes, hang up your coat and immediately go wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water. And make sure all other family members and guests do the same.