How To Disinfect Your Hands

In the day and age of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic spreading across the globe, it’s essential to uphold high standards of hygiene. We all must minimize the transmission of infection. Stay in your house if you’re under the weather. Sneeze or cough into the crook of your elbow. Finally, constantly sanitize your hands, your home, and your workplace.

Hand sanitizer and bleach are two important tools for reducing the spread of disease. Find out how to use them effectively.

Sanitize Your Hands

1. Washing your hands with soap and water, following the steps below, is actually a better way to sanitize than using a commercial hand sanitizer. However, using hand sanitizers in addition to soap and water is much more successful in killing bacteria.
2. Frequent, thorough hand washing is key, especially after using the restroom, sneezing, coughing, and blowing your nose. Also wash after touching hard surfaces such as doorknobs or railings in public places. Additionally, wash before and after touching your mouth, nose, or eyes and after putting laundry into the washer or the dryer.
3. Use liquid soap as opposed to a bar soap, and scrub for 20 seconds. Singing “Happy Birthday” twice is the recommended way of timing your washing, especially for children. Lather up in between your fingers, around and under the nails, all over the fronts and backs of your hands, and up to your wrists.
4. Dry your hands with a paper towel, not cloth, when you are away from home. To reduce the spread of infection do not use a hand towel that has been previously used. Make sure your hands are completely dry.
5. Try to use a barrier such as disposable gloves or even a tissue when touching potentially contaminated surfaces. Then discard the barrier into the trash.

Hand Sanitizer

1. Clean your hands with a hand sanitizer dispenser when you don’t have soap and water accessible.
2. Choose sanitizer that’s at least 60% to 90% alcohol. Use benzalkonium chloride if nothing else is available. Purse and pocket-size bottles of hand sanitizer are likely in short supply in your area due to concern about the pandemic, so consider buying a larger container and dividing it up into smaller, spill-resistant bottles. Or make your own at home with instructions readily available on-line.
3. Another option is individually wrapped wipes. They’re hygienic and easy to carry if you’re on the go. After grocery shopping most need fast, easy hand sanitization. You may have trouble finding the exact type you want, though. Many drugstores and grocery stores have been sold out. Amazon searches frequently result that the product is currently unavailable and there is no date of when it will be back in stock. Due to this, be flexible as to the brands.
4. Never reuse a sanitizing wipe. Viruses can live on the damp surface.

Disinfecting With Bleach

Coronavirus can survive on hard surfaces for a week or more. Liquid laundry bleach is an excellent, easily obtainable and cost-effective method of killing the virus.

Sanitizer distributors, learn more here.