Local professional offers tips to keep homes clean, sanitized

JACKSON, Tenn. – A trip to the grocery store or just anywhere you go, can bring Coronavirus home. That’s why John Bowman with Merry Maids says it’s important to keep hot spots disinfected and sanitized.

“Some of the biggest point here is you have to break the chain of infection when dealing with viruses like this. That means never forgetting you high touched areas,” said franchise operator of Merry Maids in Jackson, John Bowman.

The areas to focus on would be door knobs, bathroom fixtures, kitchen and bathroom counter tops.

“Cellphones, handrails, remotes and light switch points. The way to truly break the chain of infection on those, the surface has to be clean before disinfecting. You really want to clean everything you plan on disinfecting which is with a household cleaner and then coming back and hitting it with a disinfectant,” said Bowman.

Bowman said how an area is wiped is key, because wiping back and forth and in circles just spreads germs.

“There actually is a technique, it’s called the ‘snowplow technique’, when using a wipe or a rag it means you kind of go in an ‘S’ motion when wiping a certain surface instead of like circle or back and forth because with that ‘S’ motion you are grabbing any debris or any virus, grabbing it instead of smearing it further into the surface,” said Bowman.

Another important tip is to keep the surface wet with disinfectant for a few minutes.

“Most virus and disinfectant cleaners have a sit time of actually 10 to 15 minutes so that means never just spray and wipe, let it sit there a lot of time before wiping,” said Bowman.

A good tip to keep your home free of germs is as you get home, whether it’s from work or just a trip to the grocery store, any clothing you were wearing, change out of them immediately and put them in the washer.

It’s important to practice good hand hygiene and wash your hands before cleaning for 20 seconds with warm water and soap.

Bowman also recommends avoiding using the same cleaning cloth on different material.