Germs You Bring Home Affect Your Indoor Air Quality
Everyone is vigilant these days about proper hygiene, disinfection and having good indoor air quality. There seems to be a huge demand for ventilation systems and air purifiers, ultra efficient furnace filters and HEPA filters. However, many GTA residents are forgetting about other threats to indoor air quality and the health of your home…pathogens brought home.
Germs you bring home can affect your indoor air quality.
So what do we mean when we say pathogens brought home. We mean germs, bacteria, mould spores and yes…viruses. When we get into our car, walk or take transit outside of our home environment, we invariably bring home whatever was in the car, bus, train, subway, office, grocery store, mall, school, etc. Whatever is airborne in these indoor environments can settle on our clothing, our bodies and our belongings from airborne settlement on to these items as well as contact transfer from the floor, seats, hand rails, etc.
Wherever we go, we pick up bacteria, viruses and pathogens and bring them home. These days with mask wearing and hand sanitizing we are less likely to inhale or ingest these pathogens while we are out. We are, however, at risk at brining them home where the whole family can inhale and ingest them later.
So how do we prevent bringing home pathogens from other indoor environments where out will affect our indoor air quality.
The best defence is to make sure you have an area where everyone takes off their shoes, places their bags, purses and backpacks before fully entering the home or apartment. This should also be where we take off our coats and leave anything that was not in the home for proper cleaning and disinfection. This can be an area in the garage, a mud room or even the front hall and foyer. You may also consider having a door or plastic barrier in this area to trap air from entering the home or apartment, even for a short while.
You may want to consider having a portable HEPA filtered air purifier in this area and possibly even a HEPA filtered vacuum cleaner as well as some cleaning and disinfecting products such as disinfecting wipes, rags or paper towel.
Key in preventing the spread of pathogens into your home where they can negatively affect your indoor air quality and your family’s health is to prevent pathogens from becoming airborne into your breathable air or from contact spread of bacteria and viruses to your floors, furniture, contents, etc.
So to do this you will need to be able to use a HEPA vacuum cleaner to remove settled dust and particles on your belonging and clothing that could have settled bacteria, viruses and pathogens on the dust particle itself. A thorough vacuuming of everything that is coming into your home (including you and your clothing) will help tremendously.
Then using a cleaning agent or disinfectant to clean the bottom of your shoes, your bags, purse and back packs as well as hand sanitizing before entering the home will offer the next level of bacterial and viral protection.
These simples but effective steps can dramatically improve the indoor air quality of your home and keep you and your family safe from bringing home outside pathogens.
If you are unsure what your indoor air quality is like or are concerned that you may have poor indoor air quality, we can help. We offer indoor air quality consulting and air testing for Toronto and the GTA. We specialize in indoor air quality testing in Toronto, Etobicoke, Markham, Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington and the Hamilton region and beyond.
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