Last updated on Monday, 11, May, 2020

The virus has taken all over the world almost and has become a pandemic. People are trying to practice safety measures like hand washing, social distancing, and wearing masks to protect themselves. Since the virus spreads from respiratory droplets, it is so important to practice social distancing. Also, handwashing frequently is necessary, because if anyone having the infection coughs or sneezes on the surface. The virus can reside on that surface for almost 24 to 48 hours. People are also worried that can shoes and clothes bring a virus at home. In this article, we will discuss that your shoes and clothes can become a source of virus transmission or not. Do you need to disinfect them rapidly or you can keep wearing them either.

Can clothes bring the virus at home?

Since SARS-COV-2 is a different and a new virus, there is not much research done about it. Up to date, experts believe that clothes or fabric have a low risk of carrying the virus. They believe that plastic and metal are a significant source of carrying and hence transmitting the virus.

If you are going out for a grocery and maintaining a proper social distance, then you do not need to wash and disinfect your clothes soon. You can keep wearing them. But in some situations, it is better to wash and disinfect your clothes just as you come home. These conditions are as follows:

Who should wash their clothes soon?

• If you are a healthcare worker, you should wash your clothes soon as you come home. There is a chance that you can bring a virus at home.
• If you went out shopping at the grocery store and was unable to practice social distancing, you should wash your clothes soon as you come back home.
• If you are taking care of any person at your home who is suffering from a virus, you should change and wash your clothes frequently.

You do not need any specific disinfectant for your clothes. Normal detergent can kill the virus. So do not worry about getting any particular disinfectant. Try to wash your clothes with a possible warmest temperature. Also do not shake your dirty clothes,  it can make viruses airborne.

Can shoes bring the virus at home?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus can reside on your shoe soles. The experts conducted a study in Wuhan’s intensive care unit. They took the samples from the healthcare workers’ shoe soles who were working in the intensive care unit. It showed that the virus strains were present on their shoe soles.

Therefore, you can bring a virus at home if you are a healthcare worker or if you go out for any other purposes. But the chances of virus transmission are quite low through your shoes because we already treat them as a dirty object. Shoe soles are not a high touch surface. But you should make sure that you do not roam in the house with the same shoes you wear while going out. You should keep them at a particular place of your home from where there would be fewer chances of virus transmission. You can also keep your shoes in your garage, garden, entrance, or anywhere else. Do take extra care if you have crawling kids at home. Because kids can reach easily your shoes and even touch them on their faces.

You can also consider disinfecting your shoes with a detergent or a disinfectant whenever you come back home from out. It would be a good practice to contain the spread of the virus at home. Experts say that make sure to wash your shoes out of your home and let them dry naturally.

Conclusion

The virus has become a major problem nowadays for the whole world. It is better to take as much care as we can.  By taking the right measures, we can contain this outbreak. It is important to practice social distancing, disinfecting high touch surfaces, and avoid shaking hands.

Another thing that contributes to bringing a virus at home is the polythene bag. Make sure you discard them as soon as you bring them home. Since the virus can reside on plastic for a long time. Make sure to disinfect the surface where you put them in your home. It would take extra time and energy in disinfecting things, but it is worth doing. A little prevention can save you and your family from getting the infection. For more info visit Instacare for a coronavirus test, visit here.