Tips & Trends

Disinfecting and Cleaning to Open Your Daycare Facility

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As we inch toward the end of shelter-in-place orders, it’s important to be ready when our businesses open back up. We don’t want to be left scrambling when the time comes. For businesses that focus on the young and old, such as daycare and childcare centers, keeping things clean is particularly important. And that’s true now more than ever before. Following compliant, safe, and healthy cleaning practices will help us avoid preventable illnesses while we work on getting back to normal.

These practices will keep you, your staff, and the kids you care for healthy. If you’re not sure where to get started with disinfecting and cleaning to open your daycare, here are some tips from the friendly experts at Corvus Janitorial:

Give Everything an Initial Deep Clean

Before you open back up, it’s important to give everything a thorough, deep clean. This helps remove dirt, germs, and debris before you sanitize. This can be done with regular soap and water. Just scrub all of the surfaces, wash, and rinse. Make sure you hit all of the high-touch surfaces like bathroom fixtures, light switches, desks, and cubbies. Any toys or teaching tools that are shared should be cleaned, too. This will make sanitizing and disinfecting much more effective when you get there.

Give High-Touch Surfaces Some Extra Attention Moving Forward

The words cleaning and sanitizing are often used interchangeably, but they mean two different things. When you clean, you remove surface dirt, debris, and some germs. When you sanitize, you use a product that will kill 99.9% or more of the germs on these surfaces. Both cleaning and sanitizing are important when you want to keep your daycare truly clean, healthy, and safe. You’ll want to give those high-touch surfaces we mentioned earlier more attention than you used to. Any other areas that are handled a lot or shared should get extra attention.

When you’re dealing with kids, things can get messy. You’ll want to clean and sanitize throughout the day if you can. Durable, plastic toys that have been chewed on can be run through the dishwasher when you can sneak them away. Other toys can be disinfected and left to air dry. Instead of chasing children around to sanitize their toys during the day, it may be easier to sanitize these after pickup and focus on surfaces, counters, and cubbies during the day instead.

Look at the number of children you care for, the number of staff members you employ, and the number of high-touch surfaces you have, then use your best judgment to determine the right cleaning schedule for you. You can also build off of your old cleaning schedule – use it as a baseline and add additional steps from there. Once open, daycare facilities should be cleaned and sanitized at least once per day moving forward.

Use the Right Cleaning Supplies, In the Right Ways

Whether you’re gearing up for your initial clean before you open or you’re looking for ongoing cleaning practices to follow, it’s important to use the right products. Using them the right way is important, too. Before all of this happened, casual home cleaners might wipe a counter with a watery paper towel and call it a day. This won’t be enough anymore. Using an EPA approved disinfectant and following the proper dwell time is key to keeping things truly clean.

Read the label of your preferred cleaning products or check the EPA’s website to see if they’re approved. You can also find the answer to how long you should let the product dwell on a surface before you wipe it away. Many cleaning supplies have a 10-minute dwell time for maximum efficiency. For others, it might be two minutes or five. Follow the instructions on the label for the best results.

Create an Efficient and Safe Cleaning System

Many daycares are dealing with baby colds and shared toys, so you may already have a cleaning system you prefer. But with everything going on right now, it’s a good time to revisit it; there are ways to make it safer that you may not have thought of before it was a necessity. First, try to limit cross-contamination. This means keeping the mop you use for the bathroom in the bathroom and using a separate one in the hallway or playroom. If you use cleaning rags or dish towels, keep these separate, too. Limit exposure wherever you can.

With some extra effort, the right supplies, and an effective routine, we can keep our daycares and other businesses safe. We’re all in this together. And when it starts to feel overwhelming, give the experts at Corvus Janitorial a call. We’re always available to help. For ongoing cleaning once centers reopen, we’ve got our own updated practices in place. Just keep in mind that the process may have changed a bit since we last visited your facility. We’ll need a bit more time to sufficiently clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces to keep everyone safe. We’re also focusing more on power-scrubbing bathrooms and ceramic floors, and carpet cleaning. These areas harbor germs and could benefit from a slightly more aggressive scope of service.

How Corvus Can Help Your Childcare Facility Reopen

At Corvus, we understand the pressure and uncertainty that has arisen from the coronavirus pandemic. Thorough cleaning and disinfecting procedures matter now more than ever. To that end, our dedicated franchise owners and teammates have added new tools to our cleaning arsenal. These tools include electrostatic disinfectant sprayers and disinfectant fogger machines. Both tools enable Corvus professionals to sanitize and disinfect large spaces and areas that are often missed with standard disinfection practices, such as the underside of tables and chairs.

The Corvus Janitorial Systems team is here to help as America begins the process of reopening businesses and facilities. Cleaning and disinfecting are critical to open up daycare centers. If your daycare or childcare facility is in need of a professional cleaning partner, or if you simply require a deep clean and disinfection before opening up, inquire here for a free quote or give us a call at (855) 919-1346. We are happy to help!

This piece is meant simply to inform, not to provide any legal or medical advice.

About Corvus Janitorial Systems

Founded in 2004 to make people’s lives better, Corvus is a full-service commercial cleaning franchisor that offers cleaning services through reputable local Franchisees. Corvus has been guided by its mission to transform people and transform places by consistently delivering independence, security, and freedom to Franchisees who deliver high-quality cleaning to offices, educational buildings, medical buildings/offices, recreational centers, industrial parks, and other spaces. The company has 17 regional support offices across the United States with nearly 900 Franchisees. For more information regarding Corvus, visit www.corvusjanitorial.com or www.corvusjanitorial.com/franchise for franchise information.

How to Safely Disinfect Your Phone and Electronics

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In recent weeks, the Coronavirus Pandemic has brought a lot of attention to the importance of cleanliness and the prevention of spreading germs. From wearing masks in public to sanitizing our groceries, we are doing more and more to eliminate our chances of potentially spreading or contracting this disease. You may be surprised to learn that one of the biggest germ distributors is, actually, our phones. Did you know that studies show that your phone is approximately seven times dirtier than a toilet on any given day?

When you think about it, it does make sense. We are constantly checking it and taking it everywhere we go. The germs on every surface we touch are ultimately shared on our devices when we check the time, a notification, or make a phone call.

During this pandemic, the CDC suggests that we disinfect our daily used items, such as our phones and electronics, regularly. Corvus Janitorial Systems would like to share some of our tips to safely disinfect your high-touch, everyday devices.

Follow Manufacturer’s Guidelines

First and foremost, make sure that you are following your specific devices’ manufacturer’s recommendation. For example, Apple specifically says for its users to not use any type of cleaning products on its devices’ surfaces.

Utilize a Wipeable Cover

If the specific phone or electronic that you have does not allow any types of soaps or cleaners to be used, the next best option is to get a cover that does.

If you cannot afford a phone cover that will allow you to disinfect your phone properly, we’d suggest placing your device in a sandwich bag if you are going out of the house. Let’s say you are going to the grocery store. Before leaving your home, you can put your phone in a resealable sandwich bag. While you are at the store, you can still use your phone, but the germs from your hands will not be transferred to it. Then, when you arrive back home, wash your hands thoroughly, then retrieve the phone from the bag. It’ll be like you never left!

Wipes and Sprays

If your device’s manufacturer’s guideline allows you to utilize disinfectant or a cleaner (or if you have a wipeable cover), then the CDC suggests that the safest way to keep your phone and electronics disinfected is to use wipes or sprays that have a minimum of 70% alcohol.

Fears of spreading COVID-19 have led to a shortage of disinfectant wipes. If you can’t get your hand on any of those, here are some other suggestions:

● Use a damp paper towel with gentle soap
● Try a damp paper towel with rubbing alcohol and water
● Dampen a paper towel with any disinfectant spray cleaner

Use the paper towel or wipe to disinfect all surfaces of your device or phone. Make sure you are careful not to get any on the open surfaces (headphone jack, etc.). Once you have finished, dry devices thoroughly.

In Conclusion…

The thought of potentially spreading or contracting COVID-19 can be really scary. These are unprecedented times that have us taking unprecedented measures. Keeping your phone and devices clean can truly make a huge impact on the spreading of germs. Ultimately, this will bring us one step closer to flattening the curve and getting us through this difficult time. While this isn’t a comprehensive list of all the ways to disinfect your phone and electronics, we hope we’ve provided you with a great starting point for keeping germs at bay.

This piece is meant simply to inform, not to provide any legal or medical advice.

About Corvus Janitorial Systems

Founded in 2004 to make people’s lives better, Corvus is a full-service commercial cleaning franchisor that offers cleaning services through reputable local Franchisees. Corvus has been guided by its mission to transform people and transform places by consistently delivering independence, security, and freedom to Franchisees who deliver high-quality cleaning to offices, educational buildings, medical buildings/offices, recreational centers, industrial parks, and other spaces. The company has 17 regional support offices across the United States with nearly 900 Franchisees. For more information regarding Corvus, visit www.corvusjanitorial.com or www.corvusjanitorial.com/franchise for franchise information.

5 Tips for Parents Working from Home During the Coronavirus Pandemic

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The Coronavirus Pandemic has greatly impacted almost every aspect of our normal, everyday lives. In response, our world has gone pretty much entirely virtual. Millions of children are learning from home and millions of parents are working from home. While this is a great opportunity to spend more time with family, this is also a time that can bring a lot of stress. You may be thinking, how in the world am I going to juggle all of this?

We want you to know that you are not alone! COVID-19 has brought all kinds of challenges our way, and trying to maintain your work schedule on top of all of this can feel like an impossible feat. These five tips for parents who are facing the challenge of working from home can help bring some of the order and consistency back into our lives.

1. Create a Quiet, Designated Space

Working from home can be challenging, especially with children running around. It can feel overwhelming and, at times, like little is getting done. One of the best ways to establish your work time is to create a quiet space strictly for working. Whether it’s a table in your garage, a space in your bedroom, or if you have a home office, designating a specific space for work will allow you to find some separation between when you are working and when you are off.

Creating a quiet, designated workspace will also let your children know when you are working. If mom or dad is in their workspace, then they are working. It will be easier for the little ones to understand.

2. Establish a Flexible, yet Functional Routine

As a parent during this Coronavirus Pandemic, you are juggling so many things. For the first time in your lifetime, schools are canceled indefinitely, and workers are either being laid off or sent home with their work and computers. Nothing about these times is normal.

Both children and adults thrive off routine. Knowing what to expect, especially during this pandemic, will help ease some of the chaos you and your family may be feeling. Create a routine with your family that brings out the best in everyone. If you have younger children, try and take advantage of their nap times by scheduling your important meetings and work calls then. If your children are older, you could simply schedule your more important work-related items during their school time.

An established routine will bring some normalcy, but it’s important to maintain a little flexibility. There will be some days where things will come up–whether it’s that the children won’t nap or need help with their homework. Just try your best to account for the occasional change every now and then.

3. Incorporate Family Time

This pandemic has a lot of negatives, but one silver lining is that you are with your family. What other time in your life will you have the opportunity to spend so much time with your children?

When creating your schedule for this time, try and incorporate family time into the mix. Have lunch with your children, schedule a mid-afternoon walk or family activity at the same time each day. Not only will this create a sense of normalcy, but it will also give you something to look forward to each day!

4. Set Realistic Goals

It can be easy to feel like you are being pulled in a million different directions and never getting anything accomplished. Making a list of what you want to get accomplished at the start of each day can help keep you focused and feeling more productive.

Each morning, set aside time to think about your schedule and physically write down what you want to accomplish for the day. The list can include simple things such as sending a certain number of emails or bigger things like attending a particular meeting.

With all that is going on, it can be so helpful to set realistic goals and physically mark them off as you accomplish them. It will give you more drive, and a bigger feeling of accomplishment.

5. Be Kind to Yourself

The threat of the Coronavirus Pandemic is a national emergency. With so much uncertainty going on in the world, we mustn’t be too hard on ourselves. We are all doing the best that we can. There will be days when you feel like you’re on top of the world, and there will also be days when you feel like you got nothing accomplished. And, that’s okay. Be kind to yourself and tackle each day at a time.

In Conclusion…

Parents working from home are facing such unique challenges during this Coronavirus Pandemic. On top of entertaining their children, helping them keep up with their studies, and everyday household upkeep, they are also being expected to continue working full time. It sounds nearly impossible to handle! These tips are just some of the things we have found to be successful as parents working from home, and we hope that you find them to be successful as well!

This piece is meant simply to inform, not to provide any legal or medical advice.

About Corvus Janitorial Systems

Founded in 2004 to make people’s lives better, Corvus is a full-service commercial cleaning franchisor that offers cleaning services through reputable local Franchisees. Corvus has been guided by its mission to transform people and transform places by consistently delivering independence, security, and freedom to Franchisees who deliver high-quality cleaning to offices, educational buildings, medical buildings/offices, recreational centers, industrial parks, and other spaces. The company has 17 regional support offices across the United States with nearly 900 Franchisees. For more information regarding Corvus, visit www.corvusjanitorial.com or www.corvusjanitorial.com/franchise for franchise information.

How You Can Manage Stress During These Uncertain Times

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As human beings, we have all experienced stressful periods at some point in our lives. We all know what it feels like to be “stressed out”, and we usually know how to manage our stress. However, the current coronavirus pandemic has elevated the idea of stress into the stratosphere. With most of the country under stay-at-home orders, this black swan event has an impact on every aspect of our society. Whether it be families shut in the house 24/7 with parents trying to balance working from home and educating children or a single person living alone in isolation, we are all experiencing stress in a way we never have before.

As stressful as the uncertainty we face is, remember that it will pass. We are all in this together, and together we can beat COVID-19. Corvus is here for our customers, franchise owners, teammates, and communities. To that end, we would like to provide some brief insight on how you can manage stress while you are doing your part and staying at home:

Movement and Exercise

Movement is essential to relieving stress, tension, and anxiety. We already know exercise is good for our bodies, but it can also improve our mental health by releasing endorphins, improving our quality of sleep, getting us out of our heads and releasing tension held in our bodies. Exercise doesn’t have to be something you dread; instead, get creative and find activities you enjoy! Dancing, walking, jumping rope, shooting hoops, yoga, or anything that gets your body moving is great. Many fitness studios are offering online streaming classes, and YouTube has free videos on many different types of workouts.

Focus on Your Breathing

Often times when we’re stressed and under a lot of pressure, we breathe shallowly instead of deep and slow. When we breathe deeply, it sends a message to our brain to calm down and relax. By gently bringing your awareness to your breath you can start to intentionally slow down and deepen your breathing. Spend a few minutes focusing on your breathing whenever you are feeling stressed. You may not feel a difference right away, but with continuous practice, you will notice the calming effects.

Disconnect to Reconnect

With so much fear and negativity in the media it’s important to take the time to disconnect from all that is going on in the world. While it’s good to be informed, you don’t want to overload yourself with information and negativity. Choose how much media you want to consume and once you’ve reached your limit turn off the TV, get off social media and find a way to disconnect. Our brains focus on what we feed it, so be sure to find positive outlets. This could be talking to family and friends, watching a funny show or movie, making a list of everything you are grateful for, getting outside, reading, or cooking a healthy meal.

How You End Your Day is How You Start Your Day – and Vice Versa

This applies to our work life and our personal life – how we start our day is how we end our day and how we end our day is how we start our day. Many of us are working remotely and find it easy to crawl out of bed and hop onto our computers right away. But by taking a few moments each morning to take care of ourselves, organize our workspace or plan our day, we can start our day refreshed and clear-headed, leading to a less chaotic day.

If we end our day in a frenzy of sending last-minute emails and feeling frazzled, we are more likely to wake up in the same state and continue this pattern throughout the day. So, take a few minutes at the end of each workday to set yourself up for success the next morning. For your personal life, take time at the end of the day to decompress, rest, and do something that brings you joy.

Uphold a Positive Mindset

Staying in a positive mindset can be especially difficult right now. When we find ourselves stuck in negative or fearful thoughts, we can simply acknowledge the thought and choose a new thought. Ask yourself, how can I reframe this thought? What positive spin can I put on this to change my outlook? For example, “I am stuck at home” can be “I am safe at home.” A simple change of “stuck” to “safe” alters our mindset to think more positively. While it’s important to stay positive, it’s equally important to give yourself compassion if you’re having a hard time and let yourself feel the emotions that are coming up. When you’re ready, start reframing any thoughts that are bringing you down.

Social Support Systems

Now more than ever we need the support of others to get us through an unprecedented time. While visiting people in person is not advised at this time, there are alternative options. Calling, texting and video calls are easy ways to stay connected with friends, family members, colleagues or counselors. It’s great to reach out to others and check in with them on how they are doing, as some people might have a hard time reaching out if they are struggling. There are hundreds of Facebook groups covering a wide range of interests. Joining a group can be a good way to connect with people online who share the same hobbies as you.

Maintain a Routine

It can feel like we are losing control over our lives, leaving us feeling powerless. While we cannot always control our outer circumstances, we can turn our focus to what we can control – our routine. Establishing a routine can help us establish some normalcy in our lives and help us feel less like a victim of our circumstances. Start by following the routine that you already have – waking up at a certain time, getting dressed for the day, taking walks, eating meals at a set time, and performing household chores you do every day. From here, you can add in other habits such as at-home-workouts, self-care practices, social hour – carve out time to reach out to others to maintain social connections or any new habits you would like to work on.

Conclusion

Though these are stressful and uncertain times, there are things each of us can do from our homes to help manage our emotions. The list above is by no means comprehensive and each person will have their own ways to destress. However, if you are having a tough time right now, incorporating a few of the listed items may prove beneficial.

This piece is meant simply to inform, not to provide any legal or medical advice.

About Corvus Janitorial Systems

Founded in 2004 to make people’s lives better, Corvus is a full-service commercial cleaning franchisor that offers cleaning services through reputable local Franchisees. Corvus has been guided by its mission to transform people and transform places by consistently delivering independence, security, and freedom to Franchisees who deliver high-quality cleaning to offices, educational buildings, medical buildings/offices, recreational centers, industrial parks, and other spaces. The company has 17 regional support offices across the United States with nearly 900 Franchisees. For more information regarding Corvus, visit www.corvusjanitorial.com or www.corvusjanitorial.com/franchise for franchise information.

How to Safely Bring Groceries into Your Home

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With social distancing and stay-at-home orders keeping most of us in one place, there are still a few necessities we need to get to. Prescription medications, toiletries, and groceries are things that we’ll always need, no matter what’s going on outside. But as we move into the peak of the pandemic, we need to be more cautious than ever. The CDC is even recommending that we all start to wear cloth face coverings in public settings to enhance the effects of social distancing measures that are harder to control in these settings.

Keeping six feet away from others, washing your hands more frequently, and having groceries delivered or only going to the grocery store when you absolutely have to are all very helpful. The only problem is, we may need to do more. What we do with those groceries and prescriptions once we pick them up or have them delivered is also important.

Corvus Janitorial Systems is here with recommendations on how to safely bring your groceries into your home once you have them:

Set Some Items Aside for Now

The COVID-19 virus can live on plastic and metal for up to three days and cardboard for up to 24 hours. In order to truly be as safe as we can be, it may be best to leave your groceries and the bags or boxes they were carried in somewhere that you can come back to later. This might be your garage, the back porch, or your doorstep if you trust your neighbors.

Any of the groceries that you can live without for the next few days, set them aside until they’re a bit safer to handle. Boxes of pasta, canned fruits and vegetables, and all other non-perishable items will be waiting there for you when the day (or three) has passed. We’ll talk about what to do with the refrigerated and frozen items next.

Sanitize and Organize All of the Items You Need to Bring Inside

Use your preferred disinfecting wipe, or make one with a paper towel and a disinfecting spray, to wipe down the plastic bags, cans, and cardboard packaging that your food came in. For things like cereals, granola bars, snacks, and meats, you can transfer them to other containers like bowls with lids, Ziploc containers, and snack bags. Once you’ve moved them, you can dispose of the packaging right away and wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds.

You can also thoroughly rinse all of your produce after removing it from the plastic bags, dispose of the bags, and move it to another container. If you’re short on storage items, this sanitize and organize technique will still work. Things like frozen pizzas, breakfast bars, and cereals come with a second layer of packing inside, so just get rid of the outside layer and move on to the next item.

Clean Your Cloth/Reusable Bags

If possible, leave them out for a day or two first, and then clean your reusable grocery bags so they’re ready for your next trip. Some reusable bags are sturdy and durable enough to be thrown into the washer with similar items, but most will be fine with just a quick wipe down with a Clorox wipe or diluted bleach solution on a paper towel.

Each of these precautions is incredibly useful in the fight against the coronavirus. While it might seem like overkill to some, small changes often make big differences, and following through on simple precautionary measures may make all of the difference in the end. After taking each of these steps, be sure to wash your hands and any surfaces that you touched, too. And on that note, we have one more measure to recommend: when you have your groceries delivered, pay and tip through the website or app (use a debit or credit card in stores) so you don’t have to handle any cash and take advantage of their “leave at the door” delivery option. These additional steps are not only meant to protect you and your family but your delivery person, too.

For more information and resources relating to COVID-19, visit our coronavirus response page here.

This piece is meant simply to inform, not to provide any legal or medical advice.

About Corvus Janitorial Systems

Founded in 2004 to make people’s lives better, Corvus is a full-service commercial cleaning franchisor that offers cleaning services through reputable local Franchisees. Corvus has been guided by its mission to transform people and transform places by consistently delivering independence, security, and freedom to Franchisees who deliver high-quality cleaning to offices, educational buildings, medical buildings/offices, recreational centers, industrial parks, and other spaces. The company has 17 regional support offices across the United States with nearly 900 Franchisees. For more information regarding Corvus, visit www.corvusjanitorial.com or www.corvusjanitorial.com/franchise for franchise information.

Disinfecting the Home: Best Practices & Homemade Disinfectant Remedies

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While we know that the coronavirus is most frequently passed from person to person, we also know that the virus can live on surfaces for up to a few days. With that in mind, keeping up on cleaning and sanitizing can lower the chance that we get sick or that we get someone else sick. But where do we start? Corvus Janitorial Systems is here to provide answers. Here’s everything you need to know about disinfecting your home from best practices to homemade disinfectant remedies:

Wash Your Hands and Be Extra Careful About What You Touch

We get it, we’re all starting to sound like broken records already, but this really can’t be stressed enough. The most common transmission is person-to-person, so the best way to stop the spread is for all of us to be extra cautious and hygienic. When you cough or sneeze, aim for your shoulder or the crook of your elbow instead of out into open air or in your palm. If your hand is your only option, wash with soap and water for at least 20 seconds after.

Wash your hands after you use the restroom, avoid touching your face, and keep a distance of at least six feet from others when you’re out in public. If you’re out and you can’t wash your hands after touching something, use hand sanitizer for now. The CDC recommends alcohol-based hand sanitizers with more than 60% ethanol or 70% isopropanol.

Clean and Disinfect, Even if No One at Home is Sick

The words cleaning and disinfecting are often used interchangeably, but they do have different meanings. When you clean, you’re often just removing the contaminants (like dust and dirt and crumbs) from the surface. This is what we all often focus on during normal circumstances, but disinfecting is the part that kills the pathogens, so it’s even more important right now.

Use approved disinfectant sprays, wipes, or solutions you’ve concocted at home to disinfect after you’ve wiped everything down with soapy water or a general cleaning spray. If you or anyone else you live with is still coming and going or has had any contact with outside individuals, it’s important to clean and disinfect at least once per day. And don’t forget to wipe your phone and laptop with a disinfectant wipe, too.

Pay Extra Attention to Shared High-Touch Surfaces

By now you know that the coronavirus can live on various surfaces. New research has revealed that it can survive on cardboard for one day and plastic, metal, and stainless steel for up to three. To keep your home’s surfaces safe and virus-free, clean and disinfect things that everyone touches. In the kitchen, high-touch surfaces would be doorknobs (clean and disinfect the ones in other rooms, too), the counter, the faucet, and the refrigerator handle.

High-touch surfaces in other rooms might include tables, desks, dining room chairs, the counter in the bathroom, all other faucets, toilet components, remotes, and light switches. This list might look slightly different for everyone. Use your best judgment to identify high-touch surfaces in your home and then clean and disinfect it accordingly. If you’re moving in and out of the house regularly, you may want to increase how often you wash your clothes.

Use the Right Disinfectants

The Environmental Protection Agency has come out with a full list of disinfectants that are known to effectively kill coronavirus germs. Most will come with information on the label that tells you what it works for and COVID-19 is often included but in a slightly less direct away. Generally speaking, if a product says that it effectively kills influenza, SARS, or RSB, it should work for the novel coronavirus, too.

Clorox, Lysol, and Purell are a few of the more common names on the list, but many store name brands are also approved. Once you’ve picked your product, follow the instructions on the label to get the best results. No disinfectant work immediately. Each requires being left on the surface for a certain amount of time (dwell time) before they’re wiped away.

Make Your Own Disinfectants

The only problem with traditional disinfectant products is that they may be hard to come by right now. If you don’t have any at home, you can’t wait weeks for an online order. Your local store is likely out. You need to disinfect your home now; homemade remedies can help. The CDC recently released a simple and handy diluted bleach solution recipe for all of us to take advantage of.

All you need is four teaspoons of household bleach and one quart of water. Pour these ingredients into a bottle, shake, and spray. Leave the solution to work for 10 minutes before wiping away with a wet cloth. When you’re working with bleach, it’s important to remember to wear gloves, be cautious with materials that may be damaged, never mix it with other chemicals, and take advantage of ventilation. Isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide are two other common household disinfectants.

How Disinfectants Work

Before the coronavirus outbreak, many of us just knew that we had disinfectants on hand whenever we needed them. They sat under the sink or in a closet or cabinet and they’ve never been valued as much as they are right now. But most of us still don’t know the science behind common disinfectants or how they kill germs. We just know that they do.

Disinfectants are chemical agents that can either inhibit microbial activities and growth or are lethal to microorganisms. Disinfectants work to kill germs and viruses by destroying the cell wall of microbes or interfering with their metabolism.

In man’s struggle to control the microbes responsible for disease and illness many organic and inorganic chemicals have been found to be toxic to microorganisms. In case you’re wondering, here are some of the active ingredients in disinfectants and how they work:

Alcohol – causes cell proteins to glob together, which disrupts and collapses their structure (denaturation)

Chlorine – targets certain metabolic enzymes in the bacterial cell and destroys them

Peroxygen – collapses bacterial cell components like the membrane

Phenol – disrupts the wall of the bacterial cell, damaging it to the point that it can no longer ward off an attack

Quaternary ammonium compounds – denature the bacterial cell’s proteins and cause a leak of vital substances that leads to death

 

For more information and resources relating to COVID-19, visit our coronavirus response page here.

This piece is meant simply to inform, not to provide any legal or medical advice.

About Corvus Janitorial Systems

Founded in 2004 to make people’s lives better, Corvus is a full-service commercial cleaning franchisor that offers cleaning services through reputable local Franchisees. Corvus has been guided by its mission to transform people and transform places by consistently delivering independence, security, and freedom to Franchisees who deliver high-quality cleaning to offices, educational buildings, medical buildings/offices, recreational centers, industrial parks, and other spaces. The company has 17 regional support offices across the United States with nearly 900 Franchisees. For more information regarding Corvus, visit corvusjanitorial.com or corvusjanitorial.com/franchise/ for franchise information.