Since the beginning of the pandemic, our specialists and the government have repeatedly urged us to clean and sterilize our homes on a regular basis to stop the growth of bacteria and viruses. Having said that, even though we may regularly clean our homes, we might overlook some high-touch areas that also need to be sanitized and cleaned much more frequently than the rest of the areas in our homes.
High Touch Surfaces You Need to Keep Clean
By sanitizing and disinfecting the high-touch areas of our homes regularly, we are lowering the risk of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and even little worms growing that can infect our families. So, what are these high-touch areas we should sanitize and disinfect regularly?
Door Knobs, Appliance Knobs, and Handles
One of the most touched surfaces in your home is your door knobs, appliance knobs, and all types of handles. But despite it being one of the most touched surfaces in the house, very few regularly sanitize and disinfect it.
You’re constantly grabbing and holding all of your knobs and handles at home, and it’s not like you always have clean hands before doing so. Thus, whatever your hands have held before that may or may not have any bacteria, viruses, or fungi, and let’s not forget the SARSCoV2, on it, may be passed on to those knobs and handles. And if you constantly touch them without disinfecting them, you’re just in this constant cycle of passing the viruses and bacteria to yourself and back to the knobs and handles.
So, disinfect your handles and knobs regularly, every day if you can.
Light Switches, Remotes, and Controllers
Similar to your knobs and handles, light switches, remotes, and controllers are also high-touch surfaces that need to be constantly sanitized and disinfected. This is especially important if you have young children at home who would put their hands inside their mouths after touching any gaming controllers and remotes. However, remember to not use any chemicals that can also cause sickness, such as bleach, on these high-touch surfaces that children can easily access.
To prevent your children from getting sick because of this, make sure to sanitize your switches, remotes, and controllers with a non-invasive cleaning chemical.
Kitchen Surfaces, Appliances, Utensils, and Equipment
All of your kitchen surfaces, appliances, utensils, and equipment—like your stove tops, ovens, cutting boards, knives, spoons, forks, kitchen island, refrigerator, sink, microwaves, and a lot more—are in constant contact with not only you and your family, but also cooked, raw, and unwashed food products. Therefore, it’s inevitable that bacteria, viruses, and even worms inhabit them.
Moreover, bringing home your groceries and placing them on your kitchen’s floors or countertops without properly sanitizing them is one of the ways you can potentially infect your home with SARSCoV2, or what is commonly known as COVID-19.
Make sure to clean your kitchen regularly with hot water and antibacterial detergent. It’s best to remember that you shouldn’t use any harsh chemicals like bleach inside the kitchen, as this can cause sickness if it’s not used properly. But if you do want to use bleach, you can make a solution of boiling water and a tiny bit of bleach; just make sure to only use the water-bleach solution on surfaces and appliances, not on utensils.
Your Gadgets (especially your phone)
Next up are your gadgets, such as your phone, tablets, laptops, desktops, keyboards, headsets, earbuds, and any other gadgets you constantly use every day.
Your gadgets are one of the most high-touch surfaces in your home, especially your phones because you constantly have them on you and bring them everywhere you go. That said, bringing your phone everywhere you go can mean that not only are your hands getting all those bacteria and viruses, but also your phone. Don’t forget that you also put your phone near your face when answering calls and place it near your head when you sleep. This is one of the ways you can get COVID-19 without realizing it.
So, after a long day of using your gadgets, it would be best to clean them, then disinfect them with antibacterial wipes.
Your Bathroom
It’s obvious that your bathroom is a high-touch, high-traffic area that can grow bacteria, viruses, and fungi due to the moist and damp atmosphere. Although you may clean your bathroom regularly, it’s best to clean it much more frequently than you think you should, as this can help minimize the microbial growth that causes sickness.
High-Use Personal Items such as Your Eyeglasses
Lastly, your high-use personal items such as your eyeglasses, makeup brushes, sponges, hairbrushes, and anything else you use on a daily basis. These items can easily grow bacteria and fungi that can not only cause sickness, but can cause your skin to break out or have eye or skin infections when not cleaned and disinfected regularly.
Additionally, you shouldn’t only disinfect them regularly, but you should also make sure that you store your high-use personal items in a clean and dry area to prevent or limit bacterial growth.
Final Thoughts
That’s a wrap! Never forget to sanitize and disinfect all of these high-touch areas and items to limit bacterial growth that can cause sickness!