How much disinfecting are you doing at home?

[Lumene]

In the first wave we were really careful and regularly used alcohol or disinfectant to wipe down counters, door handles and other frequently used surfaces.

We’ve stopped doing that now really and gone back to fairly normal measures. Not sure about over disinfecting being a good idea in the long-term or not.

What is everyone else doing?

None, but possibly opening windows more than normal. The only other change is washing my hands whenever I get home, but other than that my cleaning habits have stayed the same.

No more than normal.

Everyone washes their hands when they come in, after taking in post, bins, shopping... and that’s it really!

Cleaning surfaces more. No t door handles as much only if we go out I do them when we come back. We had a builder in at lockdown and had no shower for lockdown he came as soon as it was lifted and I asked him to use other entrance and I did the door, bannister and bathroom before and after him each time. I think he was grateful as he could smell it so he felt safe and so did we. He is dues back to do some other jobs inside and out so we will be doing the same.

Still doing shopping. Washing hands as soon as we get in. I have to remind DH but now opening post, burning envelopes and washing hands straight after.

I have asthma and an erratic immune system, allergies, high BP and have previously had a heart attack from a virus. I’m not taking chances.

Never did any disinfecting, still don't.

The only thing I've ever done differently in my home is clean/disinfect the door bell and letterbox. I do regularly sanitise my hands when outside if I've touched a door to open it or used a basket or trolley though.

Nope, I have a clean house and clean/hoover regularly and wash our hands well and frequently but that’s it. I think we still need to be exposed to some germs, for our immunity we aren’t supposed to live in sterile conditions.

I was cleaning and disinfecting the door and letterbox but stopped because sunlight kills the virus anyway. I just clean as usual and wash hands afterwards. Same with the bin. If you can put your mask out on the line to kill the germs with uv light, surely it's doing the same to virus on bins and play equipment.

Yes. People really were wiping everything down and quarantining post for a couple of days (don't know if they still are). I halfheartedly wiped a few things down to start with, then gave up. As pp said, there's no proof anyone has ever been infected by groceries or post so the risk is minimal. Places where people get infected are always things like parties, pubs, public transport, aeroplanes, indoor rallies. Places where lots of people are breathing out all the time basically.

@PleasantVille

I haven't done anything extra at all and have no plans to, in a crazy moment I bought a pack of wipes in March simply because they were available in the supermarket, still unopened in the cupboard

Still waiting for proven scientific evidence that anyone in the world has been infected solely by post or shopping

I did the same!

I've never wiped or quarantined anything as if I've ordered something I want it there and then! I also don't have the room.

During the first lockdown I remember thinking I should probably bleach the door handles esp the front door but then I must have got distracted by something more interesting as I never did it. Low level cleaning here throughout with usual cleaning products. The only change we made was washing our hands when we came in from being outside anywhere

@Bowerbird5

Cleaning surfaces more. No t door handles as much only if we go out I do them when we come back. We had a builder in at lockdown and had no shower for lockdown he came as soon as it was lifted and I asked him to use other entrance and I did the door, bannister and bathroom before and after him each time. I think he was grateful as he could smell it so he felt safe and so did we. He is dues back to do some other jobs inside and out so we will be doing the same.

Still doing shopping. Washing hands as soon as we get in. I have to remind DH but now opening post, burning envelopes and washing hands straight after.

I have asthma and an erratic immune system, allergies, high BP and have previously had a heart attack from a virus. I’m not taking chances.

Burning envelopes?

More than I have ever done before!!

I am ECV and DD is at school. She was home and chose to live behind my shield for the early part of the last lockdown, so our potential exposure was very very low.

This time round, she could bring bugs home at any point, so I have started cleaning high touch surfaces frequently and sanitising kitchen/bathroom surfaces. Plus working out how we share the sitting room to reduce potential fomites (more likely in soft surfaces?)

Plus of course windows open

No more than usual and never have. DH had a brief flurry of dabbing half heartedly at door handles once in March, but I think he was using baby wipes which would have done diddly squat anyway.

My MP3 player is now playing Flash by Queen

No more cleaning than usual. I'm more likely to get it directly off tactile DCs with no personal space than any touching of surfaces.

Just normal cleaning, same as we have done throughout.

None.

No, I didn't clean more at any point, not inside the house. I still do quarantine post and disinfect the shopping, though (we have a weekly shop delivered).

I mean my house is cleaner than normal but that’s because all my children are now in school o Love you extra thing is all the bottles of hand sanitizer around.

I’m more concerned by the chemicals used in these products than the bugs they are supposed to kill so nothing, wasn’t worried in lockdown not worried now.

My cleaner comes once a week so whatever she does!

I occasionally add the gate handle and letterbox now which I never did

I’ve never done any of that and don’t intend to start now. Just normal minimal cleaning here as I can’t stand strong chemicals and we have a septic tank.
My sister was anti-back everything and isolating the post for 24hours which I thought was a bit OTT. But if it made her feel safer, fair enough.

I didn’t make any changes - still clean weekly as always and kitchen worktops / hob after use if visible spills . That said do deliberately wash hands more frequently and definitely when have been out .
Precovid my normal practice was to get in from work ( NHS ) shower and change clothes for the wash before settling down . I still do that .

None. I clean as normal. Never done anything extra at any point. I get changed when I get home but that's more for comfort than Covid concerns.

Are people really quarantining post/parcels and cleaning shopping? Really? It depends whether you're working on the mindset of "I'm not likely to get it" or "I must not get it". If you are conscious that when hospitals are under pressure, the mere fact of being in an older age group pushes you back down the queue for treatment, as does any number of health problems that are being treated successfully and cause no problems to your daily living, it changes your perspective a little.

In other words "I probably won't get it, and if I do, it'll probably be mild, and if it isn't, then the hospital will treat it" gives a different perspective from "I probably won't get it, and if I do, it'll probably be mild, and if it isn't, then I'm on my own".