If you want to how to disinfect a house after illness, you can read on to find out. Illnesses are all over the world today, and they can be a threat to you and your family, especially if you have kids around. That’s why you need to protect your family by disinfecting your home after someone gets sick.
See, when someone gets the flu, cold, or any kind of viral infection or disease, anything and everything that they touch can get infected by the virus. For instance, if they didn’t clean up their bedsheets, they will end up passing the virus to anyone else who lays down on the bed.
With the right methods of disinfecting your home, you can feel assured that there is little to no chance of getting someone else infected with the illness virus.
How do I disinfect my house after stomach flu?
The norovirus is the kind of virus you’d want to expel out of your household because this is the one responsible for stomach flu. Since it has no vaccine to prevent against it, disinfection is the only prevention you can do:
- Inspect food and leftovers. If you think that some food got exposed to the norovirus since they were near the person who had stomach flu, it’s best to throw it away rather than to reheat it to avoid getting someone else infected. For the remaining food, you can heat it up at least up to 145 degrees Fahrenheit to ensure it is disinfected from the norovirus.
- Disinfect items around the house. Use bleach as the primary disinfectant but make sure you have disposable gloves when you are cleaning to protect yourself from the toxic chemical. Here are some house items you should clean up:
| Clothes | They should be tossed in the washer and bleached only if they are white and are safe for bleaching. Otherwise, you can also wash them in hot water as per instructions. |
| Beddings | Wash them and bleach when necessary and if possible. Beddings need to be changed for the room where the patient stayed. |
| Drapery | Clean up the curtains from the room of the person who got sick, as well as around the house. |
| Walls | Scrub the walls with bleach as well as vinegar to remove the smells and to disinfect it from the norovirus. |
| Floors | Scrub them in the same way as walls. |
| Carpets | Have them professionally-cleaned to further disinfect them or you can also do it yourself. |
| Kitchen counters | Scrub the kitchen counters because they are often a breeding ground for mold and other viruses due to temperatures. |
| Tables | Scrub the tables with disinfectants but make sure they are safe for the dinner table. |
How do you get germs out of your house?
Germ spreading can be easily prevented by a simple cleaning of surfaces, washing dirty items, and protecting your food.
Most doctors will tell you that proper hand washing can also help to keep the germs away, because washing of hands, especially when you’re from the outside, can harbor germs into the house. Having no shoes indoors can also help to keep the viruses and germs at bay.
With that said, if you are unsure if your home is infected, your doctor may explain to you how to test air quality in your home.
How do I disinfect my house after norovirus?
Disinfecting your home usually involves cleaning surfaces with soap and hot water, or using bleach as a household cleaner. Leave the area soaked in such disinfectants for about 5 minutes then rinse.
Aside from that, you can also wash clothes and laundry with hot water to disinfect it. If there are clothes that can be bleached, do so.
Moreover, the air can also be infected with the norovirus so it may also help if you have an air purifier in the house, which can capture particles, such as viruses and bacteria, and other allergens.
Air purifiers such as the following can be effective for house disinfection:
- For large rooms: the Germ Guardian AC5900W Air Purifier can be a choice for you with its true HEPA filter and UV-C light, which can trap viruses, bacteria, mold and other smaller particles in the air – noroviruses included. It runs quietly, has 3 speeds to choose from, and is Energy Star certified.
- For homes with small kids: the Medify MA-40 Medical Grade Filtration H13 has a child lock feature to keep its settings intact. And since it has a medical-grade filter, it can potentially be of help to viruses such as the norovirus. It is even CARB, ETL, and Energy Star certified and can clean up to 1,300 square feet in 1 hour.
- For kids’ rooms: the night light function of the LEVOIT Air Purifier Vista 200 can keep your child from getting scared at night. It is a double-purpose air purifier that not only becomes a lamp for your kid but also disinfects your home from particles, allergens, VOCs, and airborne viruses thanks to the 3-stage filtration. It is also ozone-free.
- For small spaces: we’d like to suggest the Blueair Blue Pure 411 Air Purifier for Home due to its footprint (e.g. for apartments) with its minimalistic design. Not only that, it has a low noise level of up to 17 dB and has a 3-stage filtration system. It has a 360-degree air inlet so it can work on a wider scale compared to other air purifiers.
How long does norovirus live on fabric?
According to most health experts, they can live from two to four weeks in any item of clothing or fabric. This is why changing beddings and washing clothes is mandatory if someone gets infected by the norovirus.
To lessen your chance of getting infected by the norovirus or to make your infection less bad, it is best to consult a licensed physician or doctor. They will prescribe you proper medicine to take to get the norovirus out of your system.
And, just like with how to disinfect a room after the flu, that’s when you can start to clean up around the house to keep the norovirus from spreading like wildfire.
Conclusion
As the norovirus is a diarrhea-causing one, it’s still best to consult your doctor before you try to disinfect your home, especially if you have kids. This article is only for simple suggestions – we’d like you to schedule an appointment with your physician to truly know what’s going on if someone in your home gets the norovirus.
