Health & Safety Tips: Is Your Clutter Helping the Coronavirus Spread?
Issue: May 2020
As COVID-19 continues to affect our daily lives, it has become more important than ever to understand how the virus spreads and what you can do to reduce the risk of infection. The virus primarily spreads through respiratory droplets when people cough or sneeze into the environment. These droplets can land on high-touch surfaces which makes it extremely risky if someone touches the contaminated surface.
By now, many of you are already taking the right precautions and steps such as washing your hands regularly and practising social distancing. However, as surface contaminations play a role in the transmission of the virus, there is more you can do to ensure your environment is safe and healthy for your loved ones and those around you.
During this period of the circuit breaker, as many of you are exploring new hobbies and spending time with your family, use this opportunity to declutter and have your items stored away at a secure self storage facility as well as neaten up your home and office spaces. Decluttering not only creates more space but also reduces the number of surfaces that can be potentially exposed to contamination. As you are adjusting to working from home, keep reading to find the following tips that will help you create a safe and healthy environment!
Declutter Areas Around the Sink and Disinfect Regularly
Whether at home, at offices or even at restaurants, the areas around the sink are more prone to the risk of contamination. As most of you are well aware, it is essential to practise good hygiene and wash your hands multiple times a day. While this helps to fight the virus, there could be a chance for water droplets to land on the surfaces or things around the sink while you are washing your hands.
One way to minimise this would be to remove clutter and keep the areas around the sink as empty as possible. This would limit the surface area where water droplets can land on, reducing the chance for surface transmissions. As the sink is an area that is used often by many, it is crucial to keep the surrounding environment as clean as possible.
Since it is a high-traffic area, wiping down the surfaces with a disinfectant is a preventive measure everyone should adopt. Regularly wipe these areas down including the faucet handles and the surface tops next to the sink. Decluttering and keeping the areas around the sink neat also makes it easier to disinfect these spaces easily, cutting down the risk of any potential transmissions while creating a tidy and safe environment for all.
Categorise Your Storage
As most of you are staying home for the foreseeable future, it is the perfect opportunity to declutter your storage spaces by tidying, organising and putting away the things that you do not use. While decluttering is a way for many to deal with the coronavirus pandemic, it also creates a cleaner environment by reducing the number of objects and surfaces that can act as potential mediums for surface transmissions.
If you find it difficult to organise your things, it might help to group your items by category. This way you can figure out the objects you can get rid of or find a self storage facility to store them away, creating more room for the objects that you need. Make sure that your categories are fine-tuned so that it is easier to segregate your things and be more organised.
As mentioned earlier, surface contamination can play a part in the transmission of the coronavirus. As such, clearing flat surfaces such as countertops and shelves can make a big difference in contributing to a clean environment. Research has shown that coronavirus can survive up to 72 hours on hard surfaces such as countertops as compared to other more porous surfaces.
Keeping just a few important things on the countertops and storing the rest away will definitely help in preventing surface contamination. Apart from decluttering and organising these areas, do also remember to disinfect regularly to eliminate any breeding ground for the virus.
Find A Storage Space in Singapore
With everyone working from home, some of you may experience space constraints especially if you are holding on to any bulky items in your house. If you have spent some time at home decluttering and have realised that there is a shortage of space to store the items you do not use, finding a storage facility may help you solve this problem.
Storage facilities such as StorHub, provide storage spaces in various convenient locations all over Singapore, so you can find one that is close to home. With 24/7 access to your storage area, you can drop in as and when you need. For businesses or homes that need to store bulky items, having dedicated storage spaces can give you additional space to declutter your spaces and have a tidier environment at home or at work.
Creating A Clean and Safe Environment
In this period of uncertainty, it is essential that we do everything we can to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. With most people staying home, everyone in Singapore has the responsibility and opportunity to fight this virus by keeping our living and working spaces sterile and tidy.
Apart from decluttering your space, also regularly disinfect frequently touched items in your household or offices such as remote controls, doorknobs, cupboard surfaces as well as your personal devices such as your phones. Start adopting these measures to reduce the risk of the virus entering your homes or offices and stay safe!