Flu season is coming up soon, which means it is time to start implementing methods to protect you and your family from catching it. One of the best ways to keep yourself from getting the flu is to practice healthy habits like frequent handwashing and keeping high-touch surfaces clean.
However, it is just as important to keep your home’s air clean, as the flu virus can survive for hours or even days, depending on the conditions. It can be tough to know where to start when defending your home against the flu, which is why we have compiled a list of five easy ways to protect your home against flu season.
Keep Your Home’s Systems Clean
Just like you should focus on your own health and hygiene throughout the year and during flu season, you should also focus on your home’s health and hygiene. A great way to begin flu-proofing your home is to start with ensuring that any allergens, pollutants or irritants in your air are removed. The quality of your indoor air is heavily dependent on your HVAC system and air ducts because it essentially acts as the respiratory system of your home. When your home’s respiratory system isn’t thriving, neither is the quality of its air. Mold on ceilings or mold in air vents can affect your health and the quality of your indoor air.
Before this flu season, you should have your fireplace, HVAC unit, air ducts and air vents inspected. A fireplace can contain creosote which is dangerous to both your health and the safety of your home, as it can potentially lead to uncontained fires. Additionally, getting your HVAC unit, air ducts and air vents inspected and cleaned ensures that any dust, mold or allergens are spotted and removed.
Keep Hard Surfaces Clean
Flu germs can survive around three days on hard surfaces, making them one of the most important things to regularly clean in order to prevent the flu virus from spreading. In public areas, you may come into contact with many hard surfaces that a lot of people touch but that are not disinfected. Luckily, when it comes to your home, you can keep these high-touch hard surfaces such as door knobs, sinks and light switches disinfected to prevent contamination. One of the most common natural cleaners that effectively kills flu germs is vinegar and water.
Keep Soft Surfaces Clean
It is common to think about cleaning hard surfaces to protect against the flu, but the flu can also last on soft surfaces for up to 8-12 hours. Soft surfaces like your couch, pillows, clothes, bed sheets and rugs can be easily contaminated with germs because of how often you use them. Although the flu virus does not last as long on soft surfaces, it is definitely something you should be aware of. To disinfect your soft surfaces, you can use bleach when washing them, or fabric cleaners that contain peroxide. For harder to clean soft surfaces, like couches and rugs, you can use sanitizing sprays or cleaning sprays with ingredients like peroxide.
Invest in Machines That Promote Good Indoor Air Quality
It is known that reducing your exposure to public places during flu season can help prevent you from getting the flu, but the germs in your home can also pose a risk if you or your family members have come into contact with the virus. The flu virus can survive in the air, but also on your clothes, your skin and surfaces. Just as keeping the soft and hard surfaces in your home clean is important, keeping your indoor air clean is also important.
The most effective way to reduce the amount of exposure you have to viruses in your home’s air is to keep your indoor air clean with an air purifier. Air purifiers can kill 99% of most viruses, providing additional protection against flu germs during the colder months when you spend more time indoors.
Keep the Humidity in Your Home at the Correct Level
When it comes to protecting your family and home against health issues such as viruses, colds and allergies, maintaining a consistent humidity level in your home is paramount. Maintaining a healthy level of humidity in your home not only keeps your wooden surfaces safe from drying out and protects against nose bleeds and dry eyes, it also makes it harder for viruses to survive. We suggest that you keep your home’s humidity level at about 30-50% to reap the most benefits.
Depending on the humidity level in your area, you can either purchase a humidifier or dehumidifier to maintain the perfect humidity level for your home. Although, in some cases, it can be beneficial to get a humidifier and a dehumidifier to increase your humidity levels when it becomes too dry and decrease the humidity levels when there is more humidity in the air.
How we Can Help You Stay Safe Against the Flu
At Breathe Easy Air, we understand that it can be difficult to know how to get the best indoor air quality to protect against viruses and other health hazards. That is why we have experienced technicians that can provide you with helpful suggestions and information about what your home may need in order to have the best indoor air quality. To find out more about our services and products, give us a call today.
