Hands
If you didn’t hear this enough, wash your hands. Soap and water should always be your first choice when it comes to washing hands. Only when it is not available, use an alcohol-based sanitizer with at least 60 percent isopropyl alcohol. Scrub thoroughly for at least 20 seconds, making sure that you’re washing the front and back of your hands and fingers, between your fingers, and the fingernails (including underneath long nails).
“You do not need to use antibacterial soap, nor do you have to use hot water,” says Elizabeth Mullans, MD, a board-certified dermatologist and founder of Uptown Dermatology in Houston, Texas. “Do not touch your eyes, nose, or mouth until you have clean hands.”
Additionally, you have to wash your hands again when you’re done unloading groceries or touching anything else you brought in from outside.
Phone
Now more than ever, try not to put your phone anywhere except your pocket or purse and especially not on grocery conveyor belts, shelves, carts, and payment counters. The less you expose your phone to public surfaces, the better. Also, once you arrive home, Dr. Mullans says to use disinfecting wipes (such as Clorox, or other alcohol-based wipes of choice, containing at least 70 percent isopropyl alcohol). “Make sure to wipe down the entire phone, including the screen,” she says. “Disinfect your phone at least once a day, even if you’re staying home, but more frequently if out and about.”
3 thoughts on “10 Things That Need to Be Cleaned After Returning Home from the Outside World”
I have read that regular detergent is sufficient to destroy COVID 19. No special soap nor bleach are necessary. Also, as with hand washing, it is the friction and not the actual soap that is instrumental in removing bacteria. Keep in mind that COVID 19 cannot survive temperatures over 80′.
Your hair should be covered as well as the eyes. You may want to use “gators” or “bandeaux”, which are a tube of fabric in a cotton knit that can be worn multiple ways; and goggles or if you wear glasses: “fit over” sunglasses/night vision glasses to prevent absorption via the lacrimal duct.
Finally, if you leave items in your car when you return home, I suspect the temperature inside a closed car sitting on the driveway in the sun exceeds the temperature that COVID19 can survive.
BTW: I am a retired nurse. Thank you.
What about men’s beards that hang down outside their masks?
I wash my grocery after I get back home. Then I use the plastic bags in my small trash can. Is this safe?