CDC: Cleaning most surfaces with soap and water is enough to stop COVID-19

Important points to remember

• The CDC has published detailed tips on cleaning your home to protect yourself from the spread of COVID-19.
• In most cases, normal household cleaning with soap or detergent is sufficient.
• Disinfectants can help prevent the spread of COVID-19 when someone in your home is sick.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first broke out, many people rushed to buy all the disinfectants they could find. But now it seems that most households may not require the cleaner.

These are the new guidelines for deep cleansing on the go from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC details exactly how to clean your home under normal circumstances and when someone in your home has COVID-19.

There are many specific tips in the guide, but one deserves special mention: According to the CDC, cleaning with soap and water or detergent is effective in most circumstances at killing germs on surfaces.

Here is a full breakdown of the tips as well as the reasons doctors think it is important.

Here's how to clean your home under normal circumstances

If nobody in your household is sick, the CDC recommends cleaning surfaces with a household cleaner that contains soap or detergent. "Home disinfection to reduce COVID-19 transmission is unlikely to be necessary unless someone in your home is sick or someone who has been positive for COVID-19 has been at your home for the past 24 hours," said it.

The CDC recommends "regular" cleaning and offers the following tips:

• Clean severely affected surfaces regularly and after you have visitors to your home.
• Focus on very tactile surfaces like doorknobs, tables, handles, light switches, and counters.
• Clean other surfaces in your home if they are visibly dirty or if necessary. Clean them more often if members of your household are more likely to contract COVID-19.
• Clean surfaces with a product designed for that surface.

How to clean your house when someone is sick

If someone in your home has COVID-19, the CDC recommends adding a disinfectant to regular cleaning. Disinfection kills any germs remaining on surfaces, including SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and reduces the spread of germs.

Disinfection tips

The CDC suggests the following for disinfection:

• Always read the label for specific instructions.
• Many products recommend keeping the surface to be disinfected damp for a while (see the label for details).
• Before disinfecting, clean visibly soiled surfaces with household cleaners that contain soap or detergent if your disinfectant does not contain detergent.
• Use a disinfectant on the Environmental Protection Agency's N-list, which lists effective products against Covid-19.
• Bleach can be used when a List N product is not available.
• Wear gloves when cleaning.
• Wash your hands frequently with soap and water for at least 20 seconds.

How to clean and disinfect the bathroom and bedroom

If the sick person can tidy up your home, the CDC recommends giving them special cleaning and disinfecting products such as tissues, paper towels, detergents, and disinfectants. If the sick person cannot cleanse, wear a mask and encourage them to do the same. Wear gloves and only clean and disinfect the area around the sick person when necessary to limit contact with them. Open exterior doors and windows and use fans and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning settings to increase airflow while cleaning.

Once the sick person is no longer in quarantine, the CDC recommends waiting at least 24 hours to clean the areas they use, such as bedrooms and bathrooms.

This is how you clean and disinfect other surfaces in your home

The CDC also offers tips on cleaning additional surfaces in your home, including soft surfaces, clothing, and electronic devices.

Soft surfaces (carpets and curtains):

• Clean surfaces with soap and water or detergents designed for these surfaces.
• If possible, wash them on the hottest water setting and dry them completely.
• Disinfect with EPA List N cleaner if available
• Vacuum as usual.

Dirty clothes:

• Use the hottest water setting and dry the items thoroughly.
• Wear gloves and a mask when handling dirty clothes of a sick person.
• Clean laundry baskets or laundry baskets after use.
• Wash your hands after handling dirty clothes.

The CDC says you can wash a sick person's dirty clothes as well as other people's clothes.

Electronic:

• Consider adding erasable covers to phones, tablets, touchscreens, keyboards, and remotes for easy cleaning.
• If necessary, use a disinfectant from List N.

What that means for you

Cleaning your home with a regular household cleaner should be enough to protect you and your family as long as no one in the household has COVID-19. If someone in your home has COVID-19, cleaning surfaces with a disinfectant can help prevent the virus from spreading.

Doctors welcome the advice

"It's good that it's worded in a way that people can understand," Jamie Alan, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, told Verywell. "Solve the puzzle and set clear guidelines. Clarity is always good. ""

The recommendation to use simple household cleaners or soap and water for most household cleaners is surprising, but Alan says it makes sense. "Regular soap and water kill the coronavirus," says Alan. "That's why hand washing is and has been so stressed."

Richard Watkins, MD, an infectious disease physician and professor of internal medicine at Northeast Ohio Medical University, agrees. "Soap and water are effective disinfectants for many viruses," he told Verywell. "There is no evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is resistant to soap and water."

When it comes to disinfectant use, Alan emphasizes the importance of reading the label. "The way in which the coronavirus is destroyed depends on the active ingredient in the disinfectant," he says. "Some disinfectants take longer to kill the virus. I usually spray, go for a while and do something else, then I spray again and clean myself. ""

While cleanliness is important, Watkins says, "The risk of Covid-19 getting environmental surfaces is low. Therefore, vaccinations, the wearing of masks, and social distancing remain the most important tools to be safe.

The information in this article is current as of the date indicated. This means that more up-to-date information may be available by the time you read it. The latest updates on COVID-19 can be found on our Coronavirus news page .

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