Infection from objects brought into the house? Lunch bags, school bags etc?

[WhyNotMe40]

Can I ask if anyone had any knowledge on how to remove the virus from objects brought into the house? I'm thinking lunch boxes school bags, water bottles?
Obviously there is no way I can wash their coats every time they come home from school, but at the minute I am giving lunch boxes a wipe with the washing up cloth, and then just wiping the surface they sat on in the kitchen with the washing up cloth and washing up water - but that's probably not good enough?
Would anti bacterial multi surface wipes (say they are good for H1N1 virus so can do at least one virus) be any better? I don't want to start spraying bleach around all the time....

We are travelling soon and I was thinking about this in terms of baggage handling contamination.

It seems a bit over the top was my conclusion. I think all the current cases have been linked by person to person contact. I'd like to know if anyone knows different though!

@Mookie81 well you can't be too careful best to be sure, nukes are better than hand gel

I looked at the guidance. It would be the same guidance for any virus. Wash hands frequently. If you suspect your home may have someone visited with coronvirus then follow the cleaning advice. It says clean all hand contact surfaces (door handles toilet handles, light switches etc) with very diluted bleach (0.1% sodium hypochlorite). It will discolour if left on too long or too strong. Wash towels etc at above 70 degrees.

Dettol. It kills 99.9% of bacteria and virus. Have diluted some into a spray bottle and will clean surfaces each evening. Also can pop a little in the washing machine if needed. I’m not yet very scared but I’d do this if one of us had normal flu, so at just being a bit more rigorous now

They do a dettol laundry spray. I need to get some.

As in you spray it on coats, bags etc.

Please don’t use sprays they create an aerosol which can carry virus off the surface and potentially infect you. The health care industry stopped using sprays and aerosols to clean surfaces years ago. We use non-alcohol detergent wipes. Also always dilute bleach before using it. Adding water releases the active ingredients, and when cleaning surfaces you may need to leave the detergent/ bleach on the surface for at least 10mins for it to be effective. Then rinse and most importantly thoroughly dry. Once dry you can wipe with alcohol if you want.
Always use hand cream after washing because virus’s and bacteria will infect you rapidly if you have cracks in your skin. And avoid hand dryers they create aerosols which carry bugs through the air. Paper towels are much safer.

• washing hands

seriously 2 things if it isn't raining hang coat et al outside on line you could put other things outside (on table?) to expose them to sunlight - I wonder if vinegar or v strong salt water would help

*willdoit" thank you, that was very informy and most helpful.
Unfortunately where I work (a school) we don't have hand towels due to budget so will have to start taking a microfiber towel in with me or something instead of using the hand dryer.
I was thinking if using a spray of cleaning something onto a cloth, and using that to wipe objects?

Informy 🤣🤣 I meant informative, stupid autocorrect

I thought it was very informy too

I shall make it my new pet word

Funnily enough a patient asked me what to do re hand driers and I suggested a microfibre cloth. Or you could use kitchen roll which is what I do at home. I’m not ocd but years of scrubbing up means I’m just more comfortable with single use hand drying cloths. The only thing we use microfibre cloths for is washing the bathroom and the car then straight in a hot wash.
Door handles are probably highest risk so when we have any virus in the house they are my regular target area. My family are well trained in regular hand washing particularly if they have a cold. Working in the area of healthcare I do you become very adept at sneezing and coughing into your arm and also avoid touching your face unless you’ve washed you hands first.
I rarely pick up infections at work because we have strict personal protection protocols.

Other thing you can do is put some things in freezer - e.g. plastic lunchbox, wash/wipe then put in when they come home and take out in the morning

Very interesting willdoitinaminute I put tissues in my DS trouser pocket so he can use them to dry his hands at school, this is because he has eczema and gets very sore hands if he just does a quick fling under the hand dryer. I've often thought that those Dyson type driers must spray droplets everywhere so I think we will all change to paper towels or tissues for hand drying. Thanks for sharing that info.

Other thing you can do is put some things in freezer - e.g. plastic lunchbox, wash/wipe then put in when they come home and take out in the morning

Freezing just makes bacteria dormant, doesn't kill them, you are better off not putting them in freezer.