After Covid - Notes on Cleaning & Products We Used

So in the end we unfortunately caught Covid. 😒 But let’s be thankful that we caught Omnicron since it is the milder version. Then comes the painful process of cleaning and disinfecting the flat. Cleaning after Covid is Not Fun. But I count myself lucky to have a helper and we got it done (more or less) between the two of us. Many thanks to my helper for I could not have done it by myself really.

This post gives you links to info from NEA and videos for the more visual and auditory learners among us to get you started on cleaning after Covid.

Cleaning after Covid to protect visitors from Covid virus in the home

The household must not receive any visitors into the home until all isolation/quarantine periods have ended, and the home has been cleaned and disinfected. During the Home Recovery period, surfaces within the residence may become contaminated with the COVID-19 virus, which can survive on surfaces of different materials for at least 2 to 3 days.
National Environment Agency. (2021, October 15). Cleaning and disinfection guidelines for households on home recovery. National Environment Agency. Retrieved April 27, 2022.

Cleaning After Covid – Guidelines & Notes

But to be honest, verbal communication is still a gap we are trying to address with our helper. Sometimes, verbal communication is just not enough but I do find that just sitting her down to watch videos sometimes helps to focus her attention and help her understand better.

So if you find that the NEA guidelines for cleaning and disinfecting after Covid home recovery is maybe too overwhelming for your helper, I did find the few videos below helpful for letting our helper better understand the differences between cleaning and disinfecting and also giving her a more visual idea of the cleaning process. Of course, you may still find it necessary to cover some keypoints from the NEA guidelines document as appropriate.

Notes on Choice of Products for Cleaning after Covid

But before you get down to cleaning, checkout NEA’s List of household disinfectants and self-disinfecting surface coating products against COVID-19 virus so you can be sure you have indeed bought products that are effective against the virus.

These are the cleaners I eventually bought.

After Covid - Notes on Cleaning & Products We Used.

Left: Floor cleaner, various toilet cleaners, dettol disinfectant spray for all surfaces including kitchen, febreze fabric spray for mattress, sofa and other soft furnishings that we cannot wipe or throw into the washing machine. Last but not least, a spray in the air disinfectant. I failed to include bleach and chlorox disinfectant wipes cos we ran out. Haha. — Left: Floor cleaner, various toilet cleaners, dettol disinfectant spray for all surfaces including kitchen, febreze fabric spray for mattress, sofa and other soft furnishings that we cannot wipe or throw into the washing machine. Last but not least, a spray in the air disinfectant. I failed to include bleach and chlorox disinfectant wipes cos we ran out. Haha.

One thing to note, recommended dilutions stated on the product label sometimes don’t meet the concentration requirements indicated in Table 1 on NEA’s page here. So this was something I definitely had to highlight to my helper and establish with her where necessary the exact dilution ratio and the length of time required for the product to remain on the surface for.

That’s all I have to say on the topic.