Cleaning & more cleaning
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends both cleaning and disinfecting all high-touch surfaces, such as kitchen counters and appliances, door & cupboard handles, light switches and washroom surfaces on a regular basis to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. If cleaning wasn’t important before, it is now integral to all strategies to help prevent the spread of viruses and keep us all safe. Many of us in urban centres live in close quarters, breathing the same air, coming into contact with those in our homes, our neighbours, family, friends and community each time we go to the grocery or hardware store. Whether you are cooped up at home in self-isolation or venturing out for essential work or shopping for necessities, the surfaces at home can become contaminated and should be wiped down on a regular basis.
As Ontario and the country slowly re-open amidst the global pandemic there is a heightened importance to cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. The Ontario government released the first stage of its plan to re-open Ontario’s economy, and for each sector cleaning regularly (AKA on-site sanitation) is a part of the action plan to keep customers and employees safe (source: “Ontario resources to prevent COVID-19 in the workplace”). The usual products known to disinfect - bleach and alcohol - are scarce as stores struggle to meet demand. Since we should all be cleaning more often, have you thought about what these products are potentially doing to your health and to the environment? As we like to say, “you are what you clean with”. The cleaning products that you use end up on the surfaces you touch, the floors that you walk on and in the air you breathe. Since the pandemic began in the U.S. there has been an increase in calls to poison centres: “The daily number of calls to poison centers increased sharply at the beginning of March 2020 for exposures to both cleaners and disinfectants” (source: “Cleaning and Disinfectant Chemical Exposures and Temporal Associations with COVID-19 — National Poison Data System, United States, January 1, 2020–March 31, 2020”).
With focus put on safer cleaning practises (more frequently) and smarter choices of what to clean with (natural), you can avoid harming yourself, your family and customers. In keeping with CDC guidelines for cleaning surfaces, the moor freshouse line of natural cleaning products intends to clean and disinfect surfaces with safer, natural alternatives. For example, our all-purpose cleaners of lavender mint and clove spearmint contain the active cleaning agent hydrogen peroxide, which is a CDC-approved disinfectant and releases water and oxygen as bi-products. Our all-purpose creme-fresh contains the natural sanitizing tea tree oil soap. Wiping the surfaces in your home or business on a regular basis with our line of products will clean and disinfect without the worry of exposing yourself and others to harsh chemicals.