How to clean before, during and after norovirus

Norovirus, a gastrointestinal illness so severe it has earned the evocative sobriquets “winter vomiting disease” and “two-bucket disease,” inspired by the vomiting and diarrhoea (often simultaneous!) associated with the bug, is on the rise. In addition to sheer grossness, norovirus is notable for its resistance to many cleaning agents, including alcohol-based hand sanitisers.

“It belongs to a group of small, non-enveloped viruses that can be resistant to some cleaning products,” says Callum Couser, a research and development operations manager at Reckitt, the maker of Lysol.

Norovirus calls for what are known as “enhanced precautions” when it comes to cleaning and disinfecting. “This is a germ that is highly contagious, difficult to kill, and can survive for weeks on surfaces. You need to clean and disinfect surfaces to prevent reinfection, and you should wear gloves while cleaning,” says Jessica Ek, the senior director of digital communications at the American Cleaning Institute (ACI). Here’s what you need to know to keep you and your family safe from norovirus.

The first thing to clean: your hands

To avoid norovirus, wash your hands regularly. Photo / Clay Banks on Unsplash

Washing your hands is one of the absolute best ways to protect yourself against illness, and this is especially true of norovirus. Here’s how to do it the right way:

Wet your hands with clean, running water of any temperature; you do not need to use painfully hot water for hand-washing to be effective.

Apply soap and lather your hands, including the backs, the space between your fingers, and under your fingernails, for at least 20 seconds. Humming Happy Birthday to You twice serves as an easy way to time out the 20 seconds.

Rinse the soap off using clean, running water. Dry your hands well, either with a clean towel or an air dryer.

It is important to note that hand sanitiser cannot take the place of hand-washing when it comes to this virus. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hand sanitiser “does not work well against norovirus”. If using hand sanitiser provides psychological comfort to you, you may use it in addition to hand-washing, but the CDC says it is not a substitute.

Choose the right products

Cleaning and disinfecting are often conflated, but they are actually different things – and the distinction is particularly important when norovirus comes calling. Cleaning refers to the removal of unwanted contaminants like dirt or grease, whereas “disinfecting is irreversibly inactivating pathogens (microorganisms that may cause infections and disease) including bacteria, viruses and fungi,” Ek says. To put it another way, cleaning removes messes from surfaces, and disinfecting eliminates microorganisms, including viruses (like norovirus) and bacteria (like E. coli or salmonella), using products that are specifically labelled disinfectants.

Not all disinfectants work on every type of microorganism, so it is crucial that you consult the manufacturer’s guidelines on the packaging to ensure a disinfectant is effective against norovirus. Additionally, the US Environmental Protection Agency has an online tool, List G: EPA’s Registered Antimicrobial Products Effective Against Norovirus, that allows you to search for disinfecting products that the agency has vetted for use on norovirus; List G includes brand and product names, as well as the recommended contact time and the surface types on which the disinfectant can be used.

As an alternative to commercial disinfectants, “steam cleaning can also help reduce the germs on soft surfaces,” Ek says. To disinfect mattresses, upholstered furniture, or carpet that have been exposed to norovirus, steam-clean them to 170 degrees Fahrenheit (76C) for five minutes or 212 degrees (100C) for one minute.

Disinfect the right way

After identifying a disinfectant that is formulated for norovirus, it is also critical that you use the product correctly. The biggest mistake people make when it comes to disinfecting, Ek says, is not following directions on the products. “The label will have all the information you need to use the product effectively and safely,” she says. “When people skip reading the directions, they usually miss two key points.”

The first, she says, is to clean the surface first: “Unless you are using a cleaning disinfectant, you need to clean and then disinfect so that the disinfectant can reach the germs in order to kill them.”

The second is to allow enough contact or dwell time. “When disinfecting a surface, it needs to stay wet for the entire contact time noted on the label, which could be several minutes,” Ek says. If you wipe it off too early or don’t use enough product, you may think the surface is disinfected when it isn’t because the product didn’t have time to work.”

Up your “level of laundry”

Change the way you do laundry if you or someone in your household has norovirus. Photo / Getty

If you or someone else in your household has been sick with norovirus, you will need to change the way you do laundry, incorporating “enhanced precautions” into your regular routine. These steps are outlined in the ACI’s guide to laundry levels, at cleaninginstitute.org/laundrylevels. (Norovirus is considered the highest level; by comparison, the coronavirus is medium, calling for “extra steps” when doing laundry.)

The additional precautions and steps to take when washing clothing, bedding, towels, etc used by someone with norovirus include:

• Wear gloves when handling dirty laundry used by someone with norovirus and wash your hands thoroughly after removing and disposing of the gloves.
• Wash items as soon as possible; if you are unable to wash items immediately, bag them up in a plastic bag (rather than putting them in the hamper) until you are able to do laundry.
• Wash infected clothes, sheets, towels, etc separately from other items.
• Avoid shaking laundry when handling it, which can spread germs.
• Use the hottest water and heat drying settings and cycle length that the items can tolerate. If your washer offers a sanitised setting, use it.
• Use a laundry sanitiser, like Lysol Laundry Sanitiser or Clorox Laundry Sanitiser, in addition to regular laundry detergent. Using a deep cleaning detergent, such as Tide Hygienic Clean, is also recommended for use against norovirus.
• Disinfect hampers that have had contact with a sick person’s laundry.

How to clean up vomit and faeces (we’re sorry)

Here's how to clean up the right way and mitigate the ick factor. Photo / 123rf

“When someone has been sick with vomiting or diarrhoea, clean and disinfect the area as soon as possible,” Ek says. It is a disgusting job, but here’s how to do it the right way to keep yourself safe and to mitigate the ick factor.

Don gloves. It is necessary to wear gloves while cleaning during and after a bout of norovirus, and to wash your hands after removing and disposing of the gloves. “Even if you are wearing gloves, wash your hands for a full 20 seconds with soap and water after cleaning,” Ek says.

Pick up solids with paper towels, dispose of them immediately in a plastic trash bag.

Cover the area with paper towels, press down to absorb as much liquid as possible, then dispose of them immediately.

Once the surface has been cleaned, apply a disinfectant or use steam to kill norovirus on hard or soft non-washable surfaces; launderable items should go straight into the washer and be washed separately from non-contaminated items.

Note: If the mess is semisolid, use something like a sturdy piece of cardboard or paper plate to scoop up and dispose of the matter, then use paper towels to absorb any remaining liquid mess.

What to clean after norovirus

You might want to sanitise your remote controls too, to prevent spreading illnesses. Photo / 123RF

Once norovirus has passed, another round of cleaning and disinfecting is required to prevent reinfection.

• Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces.
• Clean and disinfect the bathroom, particularly the toilet and sink.
• Clean and disinfect the kitchen; wash dishes and/or utensils using the sanitised setting of your dishwasher if it has one; throw out any food that may have norovirus.
• Wash launderable items and disinfect non-washable soft surfaces with a fabric-safe disinfectant or by steam-cleaning.
• Clean and disinfect children’s toys.
• Take out the trash.
• “High-touch surfaces” refers to things and places we touch frequently. They include: