What Are High-touch Surfaces?

There’s a lot of talk these days about high-touch surfaces in relation to the coronavirus pandemic. Understanding what high-touch surfaces are can help you and your elderly family member to focus on the actions that are going to be most helpful right now.

High-touch Surfaces Are Ones that Get Touched a Lot

It sounds obvious, but high-touch surfaces are ones that the people in your senior’s household tend to touch a lot. For most households, these are fairly typical spots, like light switches, doorknobs, and countertops. There are also other places to consider, like the flushing handle on the toilet or faucets. Cell phones, remote controls, and other frequently used items are also considered high-touch surfaces. Basically, anything that gets touched all day long counts on the list.

Cleaning Versus Disinfecting

Cleaning and disinfecting usually get lumped together as one task, but they’re really not. A clean surface can still have germs on it and a disinfected surface can be dirty. Cleaning involves removing dirt from surfaces. It’s usually an obvious action because the area or surface looks dirty and after cleaning, it is markedly cleaner. Disinfecting, on the other hand, removes and kills germs. It’s most likely done using chemicals like bleach or alcohol. 

Hand Washing Is Still Vital

Even with cleaning and disinfecting, the coronavirus means that your senior still needs to wash her hands often. This particular virus is very contagious and the virus is able to spread in a very efficient manner. The coronavirus can spread via close contact with an infected person, but it also survives very well on surfaces, which is another means of transfer. Hand washing can help to remove those germs before they enter your senior’s body.

Your Senior May Need Help

Keeping up with cleaning and disinfecting high-touch surfaces as much as your senior needs to right now might be more than she’s able to do on her own. Elderly care providers can help her to make sure that her home is both clean and disinfected regularly throughout the day. They can also help to remind her when it’s been a little while since the last time she washed her hands, too. All of these actions can help her to reduce her risk of exposure greatly.
 

Avoiding the coronavirus that causes Covid-19 is about making sure that those germs aren’t able to get into your senior’s body at all. That means being strict about keeping both high-touch surfaces and your senior’s hands as clean and disinfected as possible.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Elder Care in Livonia, MI, or the surrounding area, please contact the caring staff at CareOne Senior Care today. Call us at (248) 308-2777.