Hygiene in the Home

Why This Is Important

Good hygiene protects your family from illness and helps minimize exposure to flu virus.

Keep Eating Utensils and Work Surfaces Clean

1. If water is scarce, scrub dishes with brushes  (or clean sand and newspaper) to remove food  particles and grease. Then wash i n hot, soapy water.  Rinse to remove soap.  Use dishpans, not the sink, so that wash water can be used for other purposes such as flushing the toilet or watering the garden.
   
   
2. Use unscented household bleach for disinfecting solutions.  These solutions are good for 24 hours ONLY, and must be re-mixed every day.

• For dishes and hard, non-porous surfaces, use 1 tablespoon liquid bleach in 1 gallon of water.  Wet and then air dry. Do NOT rinse.
  
  
• For general disinfecting (floors, counters, etc.), use ¾ cup liquid bleach in 1 gallon of water.  Soak small items for 5 minutes.  Surfaces such as floors or counters should be wet liberally and kept wet for 2 minutes.
  
  
• More info: Clorox® Regular-Bleach

Personal Hygiene

1. Wash hands regularly, especially after using the toilet.  Use soap.

• rub hands together vigorously for 15-30 seconds
• cleanse all sides
• pay attention to nails, rings, watches
• ensure hands are completely dry when done
  

• the general disinfecting solution listed above is a good hand rinse
• use hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol content

2.  Bathing: Solar showers are inexpensive and available wherever camping goods are sold. Use a bucket or tote, instead of the tub.

• For warm water, put the water in a black plastic bucket or black-painted soda-pop bottles.  Set these in the sun for two hours.
  
  
• When you’ve done bathing, save any bathwater to pour in the toilet for flushing, or use it to do laundry, if the water is not too dirty.  

Other Ideas:

1. Use a new pump garden spray bottle (available in 2 & 4 gallon sizes). Fill with water and use to shower and rinse.
   
   
2. Spray paint the bottle black to heat  the water using solar (sun) heat.

3. Cornmeal or cornstarch can be used as dry shampoos.  Sprinkle liberally in the hair, and then brush vigorously.

4. Use only boiled or purified water for brushing your teeth or cleaning contact lenses.

Doing Laundry Without Electricity

1. Use rubber or plastic tubs or buckets and a clean Household plunger. 

2. Use a tub of clear water to rinse the clothes.  Some clothes may need hand scrubbing.

3. Use the wringer of a mop bucket to remove water by hand.  If you don’t have a mop bucket, wring clothes by hand.

4. Air dry by hanging clothes on lines or hangers.  

• In winter, you can air dry outside, but you may have to crack ice to remove it from the clothes.
  
  
• Other idea: You can hang many things on hangers to dry. You can do this all year long by hanging the clothes over the door frames of the rooms & closets of your house.  A pressure rod positioned over a bathtub would allow clothes still fairly wet to drip dry. Clothes wrung out by hand will probably still drip.

Waste Removal

Why This Is Important

We take garbage pickup and sewage disposal for granted. If these services are disrupted and waste is not properly handled and disposed of, it will attract pests and bring potential for disease.

1. Separate trash and throw less stuff away.

• Keep disposable diapers in a separate bag.
• Keep toxic materials such as spray cans separate.

2. Recycle what you can. Reuse bottles and cans.

3. Create mulch of what you can. Compost wet trash EXCEPT meats and fats. Put shredded paper materials over wet trash and add dirt on top of the paper.
4. DO NOT burn trash unless approved by local officials.

• Contact your fire department to get information on whether burning is allowed at that time.
  
  
• Locate the burn area near water and away from power lines and tree limbs.
  
  
• Create a firebreak by scraping the ground around the burn area.
  
  
• Do NOT compact trash or add trash over several days to a burn barrel. Doing so will result in incomplete burns.
  
  
• Do not start a fire until hoses, buckets of water or sand, and fire extinguishers are on site and fire extinguishers have been tested. If the water is cut off, do not burn.
  
  
• Burn trash and debris in a burn barrel covered by a metal grate. NEVER burn household trash on the ground.
  
  
• Stay with the fire. Do NOT leave your fire until it is all burned down and the ashes are wet.
  
  
• NEVER allow children to be around the burn site. Have one adult responsible for the fire and a separate adult responsible for supervising the children in another area.
  
  
• NEVER burn anything when the weather is dry or windy. If you have doubts, DO NOT BURN. Waiting a few days is better than accidentally burning your house down.
  
  
• Add material to the burn barrel slowly. This will result in a more thorough burn and less risk of a fire escaping.
  
  
• As the fire dies, follow instructions for campfires. Wet the ashes thoroughly, STIR, then wet again. Keep doing this until all of the ashes are wet and cold. Look around the area to make sure there are no smoldering embers that have escaped the burn barrel.

Sewage Disposal

1. If the sewer works, but there is no water, save water that has been used for cleaning or washing to flush toilets.

2. Chemical toilets (Porta-Potties, RV Toilets, Camping Toilets) may provide a temporary solution. These chemical toilets are only a temporary solution because they need to be emptied into special dump stations, which may not be operating in an emergency.

3. Devise an Emergency indoor toilet (How to Create an Emergency Toilet)

• Line the inside of a toilet bowl, 5 gallon pail or another appropriately sized waste container with two heavy-duty plastic garbage bags.
  
  
  
  
  
• Place kitty litter, fireplace ashes, or sawdust into the bottom of the bags.
  
  
• At the end of each day, the bagged waste should be securely tied and removed to a protected location such as a garage, basement, or outbuilding until a safe disposal option is available.

1. Wear disposable gloves.
2. Use a tight-lidded garbage can for the sewage.

• Instead of bagging and disposing of this waste, you may collect it (for example in a bucket), and dispose of it in either a properly functioning public sewer or septic system. You may even bury the waste on your own property in a trench or hole about a foot deep. If you don’t use a plastic bag, the waste should decompose as long as you are disposing of it properly. Do NOT put sewage waste into your compost heap.
  
  
• If you bury waste, check with your local health department first. Many require the disposal hole or trench be at least 100 feet away from a source of water such as a well, pond or stream.

4. If your house has a septic tank, be sure to have it pumped regularly so that it will not fail you during a pandemic.

Supplies

LOTS of toilet paper and plastic garbage bags. You may stock plastic grocery store shopping bags as ‘toilet/potty liners, keeping in mind that you need to use 2 at a time (doubling them) for ‘toilet/potty liners.’

MINIMIZING RISK

Why This is Important

When you go out in public, you expose yourself to the virus. When you return home, you put your family at risk by letting the virus inside.  This threat is why it is critical to stay home as much as possible for the duration of a local outbreak.                 

• High risk occupations (some healthcare professions, for example) need to have decontamination stations at the workplace. Consult your organization for decontamination procedures.
  
  
• Lower risk occupations/activities require your good judgment and common sense.  The remainder of this section applies to these lower risk occupations/activities.

Minimizing Contamination

1. Minimize the opportunity for contamination by smart behavior.
   
Stay home as much as possible. Avoid crowded areas/public gatherings.  Wash hands (and arms if necessary) before eating, drinking, smoking, using the telephone, taking medication, applying make-up and inserting contact lenses.

• Cover all new and existing cuts and grazes with waterproof dressings before leaving home.
  
  
• Don’t touch your face or eyes with your hands or gloves.
  
  
• Wash your hands after touching surfaces which could be contaminated.
  
  
• Cover coughs and sneezes with a tissue, or cough and sneeze into your upper sleeve.
  
  
• Wash your hands or use a hand sanitizer after you cough, sneeze or blow your nose.
  
  
• Wear disposable gloves when you leave home, if you will be handling anything.  The gloves will need to be disinfected just like your hands would, but they will provide protection for wounds and cuts.
  
  
• If practical, use a credit card when shopping.  These are easy to disinfect with a bleach solution or Lysol.  Use disposable gloves when touching the keypad or signing the charge slip.  Put your copy of the receipt in a plastic sandwich bag. If you have no disposable gloves, use hand sanitizer immediately after the transaction.
  
  
• If using cash, keep this in a separate plastic bag, away from other items. When you return home, you can clean the money with rubbing alcohol, or spray thoroughly with Lysol.  Do NOT use bleach water on money.
  
  
• For mail, it is easier to handle carefully, rather than try to disinfect.  It is best to open mail outside your house, wearing gloves.  Before coming inside, dispose of envelopes and unnecessary mail, and spray what you will keep with Lysol.

2. Minimize the opportunity for contamination by disinfection.

• Look around your home and disinfect frequently touched surfaces. Don’t forget telephones and computer equipment.
  
  
• You can use unscented household bleach to make a general disinfecting solution for hard, non-porous surfaces:

NOTE:  Electrical items should NOT be rinsed or washed with bleach water.  Use Lysol spray or rubbing alcohol when there is no danger of electrocution.  If there is a possibility of electrocution, turn off the power, spray with Lysol, and leave the electricity off until the Lysol has dried.

1. Create bleach solution using ¾ cup unscented bleach per gallon of water.
2. Wash, wipe or rinse items or area with water, then apply solution.
3. Let stand 5 minutes.
4. Rinse thoroughly and air dry