3 Ways to Keep Your Home and Business Clean

COVID-19, the infamous global pandemic, has infected nearly 68 million people, with over 1.5 million deaths and countless others affected by unemployment and financial stress worldwide. While there is a promising global vaccine waiting in the wings, there is one thing we can do to help ourselves and those around us: clean. 

There are a substantial number of cleaning techniques and cleaning products available, making it hard to know what to do to keep our homes and businesses clean. So, what are the best ways to clean our homes? And what are the best products? Let’s find out.

Why Is It Important to Keep Your Home and Business Clean?

It comes as no surprise that, during the current COVID-19 pandemic, it is important to keep your home and your workplace sterilized, clean, and safe. Despite the prospect of an adequate vaccine within arm’s reach, there is one thing we must continue to do, and that is prevention. The most powerful tool we all have to keep this devastating virus at bay is keeping ourselves and our surroundings clean (1).

Research now tells us that this infamous respiratory disaster is incredibly resilient, surviving on surfaces for up to 9 days (2). This, along with COVID-19 being incredibly contagious, are some of the main reasons we are struggling to keep it under control (3). This leaves us contemplating: What are the best ways to clean? And what are the best products to use?

3 Ways to Keep Your Home and Business Sparkling Clean

Among the long list of ways to keep yourself and others safe, one has the most significant impact: sanitization and disinfection. This can include: 

The way we wash our hands is essential. While it is something we do multiple times a day, we are all washing our hands in a way that leaves much to be desired. As stated by the CDC, it is essential to wet, lather, scrub, rinse, and dry your hands thoroughly, and you should wash for at least 25 seconds (4).

It is essential to use the right sanitizer and disinfectant, with the proper concentration and the appropriate contact time. If you walk around the supermarket today, there will be an overwhelming number of products to choose from; thankfully, this is where the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) comes in. In response to COVID-19, the EPA has compiled a “go-to” list of cleaning products suitable for inactivating the coronavirus; this is referred to as “List N” (5).

The sanitizers and sanitizing agents on List N have been selected for their ability to minimize the amount of coronavirus, and other microorganisms, to safe levels. If we think about our kitchen at home or the benches at that delicious café, sanitizers are often used in association with food and food-processing equipment. This makes them incredibly useful in the fight against COVID-19 (6).

Research looking into what is best to keep these surfaces clean has come up with several recommendations: 

• Use a sanitizer from List N, such as SteriCide™ (7).

• The effectiveness of any sanitizer depends on the right concentration, proper temperature range, and contact time. Thus, it is important to follow the manufacturers’ instructions on how to use each sanitizer and how long to leave it on surfaces before being cleaned. Hydrogen peroxide, alcohol, bleach, and peracetic acid can inactivate the coronavirus (COVID-19) within 2 to 20 minutes (8).

• Most of us will be wondering, how often should we be sanitizing contact areas? A good rule of thumb is to clean direct contact surfaces before and after use as often as possible. For things like stair rails in your home or door handles, it is best to do this at the beginning and end of every day (9).

For surfaces considered non-contact, it is still essential to make sure they also remain sanitized to ensure your home and business are safe. It is best for such surfaces to use the same products you would for contact surfaces but less often. You can get away with cleaning these surfaces multiple times per week (10).

What about EcoClear SteriCide™?

One incredible product winning the race of striking down COVID-19 is SteriCide™. This excellent product contains two superstar sterilizing agents, hydrogen peroxide and peracetic acid (11), on the EPA’s List N.

Most of us have heard of hydrogen peroxide. It is common in bleach mixtures, and unlike sodium hypochlorite, it does not stain, helping you, and your clothes, in the COVID-19 arms race (12). 

Unlike hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid is something you probably have not heard of. Despite its lack of popularity, this compound is a hidden superpower in the cleaning world. Peracetic acid acts as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial, able to destroy and remove bacteria, fungal spores, and of course, viruses (13).

In addition, peracetic acid is also safe for you, your customers, workmates, and furry friends. It is non-toxic, with a short contact time, and can work on a broad range of contact and non-contact surfaces (14). 

Using these two “winners” in the COVID-19 cleaning realm, there are substantial advantages compared to other sanitizers, as well as being safe for you, your family, and those around you. 

The Bottom Line

In the current COVID-19 world, there is one major thing we are able to do to help keep COVID-19 at bay while we are on the horizon of a global vaccine: cleaning. In order for us to keep ourselves, our families, and our workmates safe, it is imperative to sanitize and disinfect our houses and businesses.