Cold and flu season affects thousands of people every year. This year though, on top of the common cold and flu, the Coronavirus continues to spread everywhere, including schools, offices, and other facilities, posing the question: how can I prepare my facility for cold and flu season, and prevent the spread of Coronavirus? After all, crowded areas, such as workplaces and facilities, pose the greatest risk for spreading illness.
Below are some of the top ways to prepare your facility for cold and flu season, and prevent the spread of COVID-19.
1. Encourage Regular Handwashing
Remind employees to frequently wash their hands, especially after touching shared surfaces, such as doorknobs, phones, printers & copiers, toilets, and fridge handles. Prevent employees from touching handles by providing easily accessible, disposable paper wipes, such as these.
2. Understand the Difference Between Cleaning, Sanitizing, and Disinfecting
Cleaning removes germs, disinfecting kills germs, and sanitizing lowers the number of germs. Knowing the difference between these three methods is crucial when preparing your facility for cold and flu season, and preventing the spread of COVID-19.
3. Frequently Clean & Disinfect Shared Surfaces
Regularly wash all shared surfaces with a general cleaner to remove germs. Follow this by rinsing the surface with warm water, and drying with a disposable paper wipe, such as these, or with an easy to clean, reusable microfiber or cloth rag. Then, carefully apply an EPA-registered cleaning product to ensure that the surface is disinfected and germ-free.
4. Advise Employees to Stay Home If Sick
Make sure that employees know and understand that if they are displaying cold, flu, or COVID-19 symptoms, such as a dry cough, fever, shortness of breath, sore throat, body aches, extreme fatigue, or severe nausea, they should stay home for at least 24 hours until their symptoms subside.
5. Provide Easy Access to Disinfectant Wipes & Other Disposable Cleaning Materials
Place containers of disinfectant wipes, paper towels, and other cleaning materials that can easily be disposed of, throughout your facility to make it easier for employees and cleaning staff to frequently disinfect surfaces.
With pre-saturated disinfectant wipes being hard to come by during the COVID-19 pandemic, make your own with an empty container, your favorite cleaning solution containing at least 5.25%–8.25% bleach or 70% alcohol, and dry solution wipes or precision dry wipes. Dry solution wipes can be altered to fit your needs (available in various quantities, roll sizes, and diameters), and are perfect for wiping down large surfaces, such as tables, desks, machines, or countertops, while precision dry wipes quickly absorb chemical solutions.
Contact Mednik Riverbend
For additional tips on preventing the spread of the common cold, flu, and COVID-19, you should follow CDC guidelines.
However, if you have questions about which wipes, towels, or cloth rags are best for preparing your facility for cold and flu season, contact Mednik Riverbend today. We take pride in helping individuals and business owners in a variety of industries find the best cleaning solutions to keep their families, business, and employees safe and protected during cold and flu season.