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.