How to Coronavirus-proof Your Home

This article is originally posted at CNN: https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/03/health/coronavirus-tipsheets/coronavirus-proof-your-home/index.html

How to Coronavirus-proof Your Home

Life under coronavirus means staying at home as much as possible — but you’ll likely need to make a trip to the grocery store or pharmacy at some point. Download or print this tip sheet to make sure you don’t bring the virus back home with you.

Note: Recommendations for COVID-19 may change as officials learn more, so monitor your local health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for updates.

Make a game plan

  • Designate one person to be your errand-runner to limit your outside exposures

  • Set up a disinfecting station — an area outside your home or in a room with low foot traffic where you can disinfect packaged food

When you’re out

  • Avoid coming within less than six feet of others

  • Wipe handles on carts or baskets while shopping

  • You don’t have to have gloves or a mask — just wash your hands frequently while you’re out and avoid touching your face

When you get back

  • Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds

  • Disinfect takeout boxes and packaged foods at your disinfecting station

  • Thoroughly wash produce before putting it in your kitchen

Disinfect

  • Disinfect everything you touch — doorknobs, light switches, keys, phone, keyboards, remotes, etc.

  • Use EPA-approved disinfectants (these include Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and certain Lysol sprays) and leave surfaces wet for 3-5 minutes

Delivery

  • Ask workers to drop deliveries off on your doorstep or an area of your complex

  • If they need you to come to the door, keep six feet of distance

  • Pay and tip online when possible

  • After you pick up mail from your mailbox, wash your hands

Laundry

  • Wash clothes, towels and linens regularly on the warmest setting

  • Disinfect your laundry hamper, too, or place a removable liner inside it

  • Don’t shake dirty laundry to avoid dispersing the virus in the air

Guests

  • You shouldn’t allow guests over right now

  • If you need to house a family member or friend, avoid shared living spaces as much as you can

  • If they need to enter shared living spaces, ask them to keep six feet of distance

If someone in your home gets sick

  • First, consult your doctor

  • Isolate them in another room and ask them to use a separate restroom

  • Disinfect frequently touched surfaces every day

  • Avoid sharing items with them

  • Wear gloves when washing their laundry

  • Continue to wash your hands frequently

  • Ask them to wear a face mask if they have one

Supplies you’ll need

  • EPA-approved disinfectants

  • If you don’t have disinfectants, make a bleach solution:

    • Mix four teaspoons bleach per quart of water; or

    • Use a 70% alcohol solution

  • Laundry detergent

  • Trash bags

  • Prescription medicines (you can mail order these)

  • Canned foods — fruits, veggies, beans

  • Dry goods — breads, pastas, nut butters

  • Frozen foods — meats, veggies, fruits

Pets

  • Supervise your pet in your backyard

  • It’s OK to play with them outside — just keep your distance from other humans

  • If you’re sick, ask someone you live with to take care of them while you recover

  • If you must care for them while you’re sick, wash your hands frequently

Sources

  • Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore City Health Commissioner and an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University in Washington.

  • Dr. Koushik Kasanagottu, an internal medicine resident physician at John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and who is among the thousands of health care professionals treating patients with coronavirus.

  • Dr. Richard Kuhn, a virologist, director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease and editor-in-chief of the journal “Virology.”

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.