Chances are, we all have a pack of Dettol cleaning wipes lying around, ready for use at the chance of a spillage or stain discovery. In operation for nearly one hundred years, Dettol is synonymous with home hygiene and has been a visible force during Covid-19. With this in mind, the brand recently released a simple guide to cleaning the home properly in the midst of a pandemic and we’re going to spotlight the findings for you in this article.
There’s no such thing as ‘deep cleaning’ a home
First and foremost, the idea that you can ‘deep clean’ a house is untrue. Despite this, many of us in the UK are Googling for advice on the topic. (According to the Dettol report, the search query jumped up by 200% from March to May 2020, when the pandemic first hit.)
You should instead be focusing on ‘breaking chains of infection.’ Dr Lisa Ackerley, who helped compile the Dettol guide, explained: “Concentrate on cleaning and disinfecting the surfaces you regularly touch with your hands, while making sure to wash [your] hands when [you] arrive home.”
Your first port of call? The bathroom or kitchen sink to make sure your hands are clean. From here, wipe down the following surfaces with antibacterial wipes:
· Door handles
· Handrails
· The toilet flush
· Kitchen surfaces that are used regularly
In fact, you can disinfect large surfaces around the house all you like and scrub and ‘deep clean’ to your heart’s content, but if you’re not washing your hands, you’re still infecting small surfaces that you touch regularly throughout the home. That goes for your laptops and electrical appliances as well.
That said, a big clean can do us a world of good. The report explains the impact cleaning can have on our mental health: for many of us, a clean home improves our sense of wellbeing and has the added benefit of making it presentable to outsiders. So, with this in mind, go for a deep clean every now and then, but spend your day-to-day breaking chains of infection by wiping down the inconspicuous – yet regularly touched – surfaces throughout your house.
‘Deep cleaning’ is a broad term, of course, but it might involve hoovering the floors and mopping them afterwards; washing sofa covers; taking the carpets to the dry cleaners. All of these are perfectly good chores, especially if you have children playing on the ground, but it doesn’t need to be your first line of defence.
Take off your shoes when you go inside
This is an easy one that we can all start doing right away. Simply take your shoes off when you enter and leave them at the door. Shoes pick up bacteria from the outside world, as do your hands. So, as we’ve said, go and wash your hands right away – this simple measure can make all the difference in the world.
Want to know more? Take a look at the Dettol report/guide in full. You’ll find a hypothetical infographic that tracks the journey of a germ, and you’ll also come across survey results from the UK population. All of it makes for interesting reading – especially at a time when staying germ-free is at the forefront of many of our minds.
