How do you clean home without spreading potential germs as you go?

[Splitsunrise]

This might be a silly question.... but when cleaning doorknobs, light switches etc, can you use the same cloth with an antibac spray or do you have to use a separate cloth for each bit of cleaning so as not to spread around the house? Would the spray kill anything anyway so it doesn't matter about it getting on the cloth? Otherwise I don't know logistically how to go about cleaning effectively!

Sorry, bit paranoid at the moment.....

Bleach kills it very effectively, wipe down as much as you can with bleach / water

Soapy water is perfectly adequate, Mumsnetters seem fucking obsessed with "antibac" and bleach.

Soapy water for cleaning and handwashing will kill more "germs" than your "antibac" and bleach is totally unnecessary.

Coronavirus, remarkably, is a virus. Otherwise it would probably be called coronabacteria...

Will that damage plastic fittings, flooring, light switches etc?
And still same question about the cloth?

@ArtisanBreadBin there's no need to be sarcastic

Use some common sense OP, failing that, google.

Of course bleach will damage things, it's toxic and corrosive.

Bucket/bowl of warm soapy water (washing up liquid), dip cloth in, wring it out, clean terrifyingly infected surface, repeat many times. The detergent will affect the virus (and bacteria) and clean off any biofilm and grease at the same time.

And why don't you use some empathy... Other people have shown you kindness on your own threads

If the antibac is killing the stuff on the doorknob then it should kill the stuff on the cloth so don’t worry about that OP, just maybe wash your cloths of a night time or after you’ve blitzed the house!
Ignore the people with superiority complexes, you had a valid question. Even if it had been a stupid question, who cares? It’s always good to ask and learn new things! Happy cleaning!

Soap breaks down the fat layer in the virus particles, making them fall apart. It will keep doing that if the cloth is soapy, even if you use it on multiple surfaces. You don't need antibac. But it's good to have high alcohol sanitiser when you're out and about with no access to soapy water, because alcohol breaks down the fatty layer too.

I'm planning to use hot soapy water because soap is very effective in penetrating and killing the virus. So anything you get on the cloth will be killed by the soap on the cloth and in the water. Hang on, I'll see if I can find a link that explains it.

www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/health/soap-coronavirus-handwashing-germs.amp.html

I love the spermy diagrams if you scroll down. I honestly think that soap and water are the best thing to use. You can always grate soap into hot water if you have bar soap to hand.

Thanks all! It may seem silly but I might have to see my elderly dad soon and I'm really paranoid about passing something on, not for my own health.

As for hot soapy water..... I have washing up liquid or hand soap, I presume any of those would do but I don't know if you then have to rinse off the soap and if it's a light switch that's a little tricky!

I use antibac sprays as I guess that's just easiest, spray on a cloth and clean...it does say on the back effective against flu viruses etc.

I never really gave it much thought beforehand but now thinking through it properly I've confused myself!

I doubt you need to rinse it off unless it's something you're going be eating off! And yes, anything detergenty like washing up liquid will work.

I always go from the cleanest to the dirtiest area so I would wipe all the light switches first, then the ordinary door handles and finally the door handles to the loo/bathroom. I am saying would because I don’t do light switches very often. I agree that soapy water is better than bleach - just because bleach has a nasty habit of ruining surfaces or textiles. I don’t use antibac sprays or wipes because there are concerns that it leads to antibacterial resistance.

It’s quite hard to know what to do, Splitsunrise, isn’t it, unless you do a job where infection control is needed. My mum instilled in us the need to have individual towels so a lot of things are habit, not something you consciously learn. I also think there is a whole industry out there preying on our worries. Hot water and washing up liquid is really cheap and effective - far better from a profit point of view to encourage us to buy special sprays.

Also the Coronavirus can affect the chest and many bathroom and kitchen sprays are sprays are not very good for your lungs .

many bathroom and kitchen sprays are not very good for your lungs

good point, and a lot of people seem unaware it's an issue. My mum made me have a long discussion about this a couple of months back after something she heard on the radio.

I do still have one or two spray cleaners I use, but I now just spray them directly into my cloth/sponge at close range.

Well..... I've just done it all with a microfibre cloth with lots of spray and then thrown it in the wash on hot temperature... I wouldn't usually be so meticulous but we've had workmen in the house today (for an urgent job). Will try just hot water and soap next - just didn't want to leave a film of soap on light switches etc

Thank you all so much for your comments

Generally I don't anti bac apart from areas of food prep, and even then not much as we have wooden worktops. Or bleach apart from to chuck some down the loo now and then.