CloroxPro Blog – Professional Cleaning and Disinfection Insights

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role cleaning and disinfection play in public health.¹ We are beginning to see a shift in the attitude toward cleaning, where people expect the businesses they frequent to make cleaning and sanitation a top priority. Cleaning and disinfection practices have become closely associated with trust and you may find that you need to rebuild that trust with your customers and staff, by developing enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocols.^2,3

The good news is, most of these new behaviours can be practiced at any time, even in the absence of a pandemic. Enhanced cleaning and disinfecting of surfaces can help not only in the fight against COVID-19, but also against other respiratory viruses, like influenza, which was at a record low during the peak of the pandemic. When COVID-19 cases become less prevalent, what new behaviours will we keep?² Moving forward, here are the steps that need to be taken.

Don’t forget your masks-for now

Masks are now an integrated accepted as a normal part of our lives. Just think about the last time you went out to run whether you’re running errands, waiting in line, or dropping off the kids off at school or camp – along with the  essentials like your keys and phone, you also had your masks don’t forget your mask.  A public health intervention has never been so prevalent.²

As cases of COVID-19 decrease, we may see that wearing masks will become less common. Although the public may move away from behaviors and protocols around masking, there are fundamental infection prevention behaviours that are likely here to stay.³

Disinfecting surfaces

With any new pathogen, especially a respiratory one, routine cleaning and disinfection is essential.² You may remember from the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, where everyone was wiping down everything they came in contact with, including groceries, mail, handles, desks, and packages.

Routine cleaning and disinfection are an important part of your infection prevention strategy. Especially since COVID-19 is not the only infectious disease we live with; cleaning and disinfection should be a standard part of our lives.²

You can take a proactive role in maintaining these efforts by implementing a variety of new disinfection practices, such as:

• Leveraging electrostatic technology to disinfect places like retail spaces, schools, fitness facilities, airport terminals or hospitals
• Making disinfecting wipes for surfaces and hand available to passengers when they board aircraft or customers when they enter a store
• Having restaurant personnel slow the seating process to allow time for all surfaces to be cleaned and disinfected between guests.²

Show your cleaning efforts

People may have become more skeptical and more demanding about the cleanliness of the spaces they frequent. Consider showing how your building/environment gets cleaned by scheduling cleaning services during daytime hours. You can also post signs indicating when or how often cleaning services are performed, both as a reminder of protocols, and to educate customers.⁴ After all, seeing is believing!

Clean frequently & between interactions

Allowing cleaning practices to be more visible is great; something that is even better is to clean more often, especially items used between customers.⁴ Clients and visitors find it reassuring to see touch points disinfected between interactions, for example, the conveyor belt at the grocery store or the touchscreen for their debit/credit card. It leaves a positive impression and shows them that you take their health and safety seriously.

Put products and technique first

The results of your cleaning are only as good as the products and techniques you use. Get more out of frequent, visible cleaning by having the right products and equipment and ensuring your staff is properly trained in best practices for their use.⁴

Awareness around infections

Infection prevention requires multiple intervention strategies. Increasing emphasis on all the infection prevention behaviours – masking, physical distancing, hand hygiene, cleaning and disinfection, and avoiding indoor spaces with those outside your household – is what prevents the spread of infections.² Prevention isn’t one thing that you do, but combining several strategies can significantly help reduce exposure.

Infection prevention efforts are front and center now for each and every one of us, and there is a real opportunity to change how we treat infections in our everyday life, even beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more about CloroxPro^®. CloroxPro^® has developed disinfecting-sanitizing products that are registered at Health Canada to help meet the needs of your facility

References:

1. Meredith MacLeod. New Normal: This is how COVID-19 could change cleaning forever. CTV News. https://www.ctvnews.ca/
   health/coronavirus/new-normal-this-is-how-covid-19-could-change-cleaning-forever-1.4884040.  Accessed August 26, 2021.
2. Popescu S. Infection Prevention in a Post-Pandemic World. https://www.cloroxpro.com/blog/infection-prevention-in-a-post-pandemic-world/. Accessed July 5, 2021.
3. Powell A. Outbreak forced changes big and small, some of which are here to stay. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/11/our-post-pandemic-world-and-whats-likely-to-hang-round/. Accessed July 5, 2021.
4. Government of Nova Scotia. Guidelines for Venues & Facilities. https://novascotia.ca/coronavirus/docs/Developing-COVID-19-Facility-Plan.pdf. Accessed August 27, 2021.