STATES, COUNTIES, AND local governments are gradually loosening Covid-19 restrictions across the US, despite the fact that cases are beginning to rise again and the nationwide infection rate has surpassed 2 million individuals.
Regardless of how much you plan to take advantage of opening shops, bars, restaurants, and parks, you should continue social distancing, using a mask when near others outside your home, and maintaining the same cleaning habits. The SARS-CoV-2 virus–the coronavirus that causes the disease Covid-19–isn't going away anytime soon, and you need to keep up your defenses against it, no matter how much warm weather and semi-bustling streets may lull you into feeling like life is, in some places, returning to normal.
It might seem more productive to read our Coronavirus Gear and Supplies Guide and start filling your pantry with canned goods and essentials, but cleaning and sanitizing surfaces in your home can help lower the chances you or a loved one will contract Covid-19 and lower the chances you might spread it to someone else. Keeping your home (and self) sanitized helps everyone.
The Centers for Disease Control recommends we all take steps to clean and sanitize high-touch surfaces in our homes. Below, we get into the weeds of how long the virus might last on surfaces, which disinfectants may kill it, and the steps you should take to keep clean.
Updated June 11: We've updated our guide to reference the newly discovered, coronavirus-caused condition that's affecting some children, known as multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). We've also changed our product recommendations to reflect pricing and stock changes. We've also added links to some supplies, though note that high demand could mean they go in and out of stock.
To Keep Yourself Virus-Free
Wash Your Hands
You’ve heard it a million times by now, and you’ll hear it a million more, but the best way to lower your risk of contracting Covid-19 (or pass it on to someone else) is to wash your hands after you cough, sneeze, touch your face, use the restroom, or are about to leave one place for another. You should wash your hands when you leave and return from the grocery store, for instance.
If you can find any, hand sanitizer is a fast cleaning method that works wonders. (Here's how to make your own.) Hand sanitizer is no substitute for washing your hands with soap and water, though. Using soap and water can also be a little easier on your hands. It won't necessarily kill all pathogens, but if you wash your hands properly, it'll wash them away. The World Health Organization has detailed instructions (which we've all seen in meme form) on how to properly perform the 20-second hand wash.
It’s also important to liberally moisturize your hands. Dry, cracked skin is at greater risk for all kinds of infections, so after you wash, apply a little moisturizer. It's nice! Most moisturizing lotions have similar ingredients, starting with water and glycerin, so the brand doesn't really matter. (Here are some hand lotions on Amazon.) If your hands are extra dry, look for something dermatologist-recommended with an "intensive" label, like Eucerin Advanced Repair, Neutrogena Hydro Boost, or Neutrogena Norwegian Formula
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Stay Home
Even if you're not sick, just stay home if you can. Being in large crowds or going out to restaurants poses unnecessary risks not just to yourself but to the people around you. The more you're in public, the more chances the novel coronavirus has to hitch a ride on your hands, clothes, or person. Millions of people are very vulnerable to this virus. Putting yourself at risk also puts them at risk.
"There will be a sizable portion of people who are older or who have other health conditions, and if they get sick all at once, they're going to overwhelm the health care system. So we're trying to decrease the number of transmissions," Dr. John Townes, head of infection prevention and control at the Oregon Health & Science University, told WIRED.
Important Rules to Stay Safe:
- Stay at home except for essential trips to get groceries, etc.
- Wear a cloth face mask in public. (Here's how to make a mask and the rules surrounding them.)
- Stay at least 6 feet away from other people in public.
- Again, wash your hands frequently for at least 20 seconds (or use hand sanitizer if you're unable to wash).
- Cough or sneeze into a tissue or the inside of your elbow. Avoid touching your face.
Invest in a Cloth Face Mask
The CDC recommends that everyone wear a cloth face mask in public. We have detailed instructions, and do's and don'ts, on masks in our How to Make a CDC-Approved Cloth Face Mask guide if you're unable to find one to buy.
Masks are an added precaution on top of staying home, washing your hands, social distancing, and the other guidelines that you should be following. A cloth mask is unlikely to prevent you from getting Covid-19, but it may help protect others if you happen to have the disease. Some people who have the disease show mild symptoms, or none at all—particularly, those who are young–so you or they may have it and not know. As far as we're aware, the novel coronavirus is transmitted through person-to-person contact or respiratory droplets. Just talking to someone can send droplets their way.
Do not put a mask on kids under 2 years old, but do help them social distance from others, and wash their hands. New evidence suggests kids are especially vulnerable to another condition caused by exposure to the coronavirus. Medical professionals have termed this condition Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C).
Don't buy an N95 mask or any professional mask that could be used to help health care workers. There is still a severe shortage of masks around the United States, and N95 masks should be reserved for medical professionals. This is why the CDC, again, recommends you make your own cloth mask at home.
To Keep Your Home Virus-Free
Clean and Disinfect
The first thing you'll want to know is that cleaning and disinfecting are two very different things. The CDC recommends we all do a bit of both, even if nobody in your home is sick.
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Cleaning is about removing contaminants from a surface.
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Disinfecting is about killing pathogens.
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Do both daily if anything or anyone has entered or exited your home.
Transmission from person-to-person is a much greater risk than transmission via surfaces, but the CDC recommends we clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces in our homes at least once daily just to be safe, assuming we have had contact with the outside world in some way, either a person leaving and returning or goods coming in.
Target Your Home's High-Touch Surfaces
Researchers have found that the novel coronavirus is capable of living on surfaces such as cardboard for 24 hours, but up to two or three days on plastic and stainless steel. So cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces is a step we should all take, even if we aren't leaving the house. Anytime items or people come in and out of your home, there is some possibility of exposure.
