
By Angela Abdel-Nour Group Germ Control Senior Officer, Boecker®
During the past years, infection control’s main direction was focused on medical care to control and reduce infection rates. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the related awareness campaigns, it became a must for all sectors. Nowadays, everyone is aware of the importance of the preventive responsibilities. In fact, making sure that houses and companies are COVID safe became a crucial point in order to safeguard the wellbeing of people especially vulnerable individuals in the society.
With 15 years of experience in the field of Germ Control, Boecker® stands as an authority in the fight against COVID-19, protecting thousands of properties and ensuring the necessary safety measures for its clients. An increased demand for hand hygiene and daily disinfection products was lately noticed in the sectors outside the healthcare industry, such as educational, residential, etc. Residents became more or less obliged to take care efficiently and effectively of their environment to guarantee total protection.
In order to assure safety against infections, facilities should make sure that occupants are aware of:
1. Good personal hygiene practices such as the right technique for hand washing and hand disinfection.
2. Proper respiratory hygiene/cough etiquette to prevent a respiratory infection from spreading.
3. The importance of routine disinfection of frequently touched surfaces and items as well as areas with poor indoor air quality.
4. The right frequency of cleaning indoor ventilation systems.
5. The reason behind social distancing and close contact with any infected person.
Many instructions provided by the World Health Organisation WHO and other international institutions consisted of implementing regular infection control measures, which included hand washing, surface cleaning and disinfecting, coughing and sneezing etiquette. However, in many cases, people are not aware of the right methods for implementing these simple steps. For instance, not everyone knows that disinfectants need to remain on objects for a specific time in order to provide them with the expected results. In addition, teaching the young generation to follow these precautionary instructions and making them wear face masks while in public might be quite challenging for parents but needs to be done properly.
Thus, it is highly recommended to take a step-by-step process and start training the different society groups on the right techniques for implementing the COVID-19 preventive measures. Those can consist of very simple guidelines such as showing the correct way to wear face masks, noting that children younger than 2-years-old should not wear masks to avoid the risk of suffocation.
Hanging posters as a reminder for youngsters and adults is also a great idea to make sure that infection control measures are properly communicated and are reaching everyone. To sum it up, make sure to limit exposure to COVID-19, practice proper hygiene and social distancing while wearing a mask in Public and last disinfect hands and surfaces regularly.