It starts innocently enough. Picking up your child from school, you hear the surrounding sniffles. Then the coughs and sneezes start to increase around your office. Cold & flu season has officially arrived, and you’re doing everything in your power not to have anyone in your household get sick. While you can’t control the school or office environment, you can control what’s in your home.
The best way to reduce the risk of contracting a cold or the flu is by practicing good health habits. The tips below will help you learn about actions you can take to protect your family and help stop the spread of germs.
Daily Safety Basics
Consider this: According to the CDC, more than 200 viruses cause the common cold, and hundreds of flu strains emerge each year. A sick person’s cough or sneeze has millions of viral particles. A cough can expel droplets at speeds of about 50 mph, a sneeze at more than 100 mph, sending them 6 feet or farther into the surrounding air. This is why you shouldn’t underestimate daily safety practices. Simple measures, like those outlined below, can go a long way in infection control and prevention.
- Avoid close contact – Avoid close contact with people who are sick. If you can’t avoid close contact, assume you are already carrying the virus and take additional precautions to avoid spreading germs.
- Stay home when you are sick – If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. Keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.
- Cover your mouth and nose – Cold and flu viruses spread mainly by droplets in the air. Covering your mouth and nose when coughing or sneezing aids in the containment of virus particles.
- Clean your hands – Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. If soap and water are not available, use hand sanitizer.
- Avoid touching your face – Sickness can be spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches their eyes, nose, or mouth.
Maintaining a Germ-Free Home
Staying on top of cleaning and disinfecting your space helps prevent the spread of illness, especially when colds and the flu are on the rise. Using the right household disinfectant will reduce the number of germs on surfaces, and it lowers your family’s risk of infection or contamination; BactroKill is that disinfectant. Bactrokill is an EPA-registered antimicrobial spray disinfectant, specifically formulated for residential use and can be applied on any surface. Because it is EPA registered, it’s a safe and eco-responsible option to keep your home germ free.
In addition to cleaning and disinfecting, you can increase ventilation in your home and have your air ducts professionally cleaned to combat sickness. Improving ventilation, helps prevent germ particles from accumulating in indoor air. Opening windows, doors, and turning on exhaust fans are the easiest ways to improve circulation. In addition, frequently changing the filter in your HVAC system will trap particulates so they do not recirculate throughout your home.
While there are no hard and fast rules around how often to clean your air ducts, typically it’s done once per year by a professional. However, under certain circumstances you may opt for more frequent cleanings. These include:
- After individuals in your home have been sick
- When debris buildup has taken hold of your system
- If residents have health conditions including asthma and allergies
Don’t Tackle Cold & Flu Season Alone!
When the sniffles and coughs start making their annual rounds, remember that Bactronix is your friendly neighborhood germ-buster. We’re with you every step of the way, making sure your home or office is a safe and healthy space. So, when the temperatures dip and noses start running, don’t panic – just give us a call! Let’s make this cold and flu season less about tissues and sneezes, and more about staying healthy and germ-free.
