Cleaning COVID-19 Out Of Your Car
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Right now, cleaning has become a top priority in America. However, you may be putting our car on the back burner!
The Center for Disease Control is requiring all suspected/confirmed COVID-19 patients to remain in their vehicles or a friends vehicle during testing. If you or a loved one has had to be tested recently, then these tips are going to help you! As a safety precaution, I will also be telling you guys how to try and prevent spreading these germs to others in your vehicle.
First, the CDC recommends that when driving a loved one to get tested for the virus, wear a face mask. This will stop the germs from spreading through the air, and it will stop them from going through your vehicle's air circulation and vents. (Remember, do not put a face mask on a child under two years of age.) The second recommendation is to try and avoid close contact from other. I know this is hard to do in a vehicle, but if you know your riding partner has been exposed to the virus, try to remain six feet apart.
Now, let's clean the car!
The first thing you need to do when cleaning out your vehicle, is roll down all of the windows. This will allow for fresh air to run through the car. You can also do this while driving to prevent breathing the same air in a tightly packed car.
The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, released these statistics a few months ago:
"Riding in a car for 72 minutes with an infected passenger can cause fine COVID-19 aerosol particles to build up if windows are closed. The jagged nature of each curve corresponds to a cough every 3 minutes. Values are relative to the peak virus level when windows are closed."
Images from USA TODAY
Products You Need
When going to clean your vehicle, you need to put on disposable gloves. This will protect your hands from chemicals and can prevent a further spread of germs. You will also need some soap, a bucket of water and a cloth. Soap, water and alcohol solutions such as disinfectant wipes that contain at least 70% isopropyl alcohol are the most effective household products to kill the coronavirus according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Conveniently, soap is a key ingredient in a lot of easily obtained items — classic liquid hand or dish soaps (think Dial), for example. The trick here is to avoid any cleaners that are labeled as being free of detergents. - autoblog.com
Most leather and imitation leather have a protective urethane coating, so using alcohol-based products can lead to damage if used too often. So, soap is the safest for fabrics and leather seats. When cleaning your vehicle's interior, do not scrub aggressively and do not use too much water. If cloth upholstery soaks through with water, it can get into the cushion beneath. This will cause molding and create a mildew smell in the car.
Places to Clean
Places you need to clean include places you most frequently touch, like: The outside and inside door handles, steering wheel, gear shift, turn and wiper signal levers, any buttons on your radio and climate control unit, seat upholstery, seat belts, mirrors, driver and passenger armrests, grab handles and seat adjustment levers on both driver and passenger seats according to Consumer Reports.
You may even want to spend a bit more time on your steering wheel. According to a study by CarRentals.com, a steering wheel can contain four times the germs than a public toilet seat. - Yuck!
Photo from USA Today
Things You Don't Need To Use On Your Car
It's not recommended you use bleach, hydrogen peroxide, or ammonia-based products in your car, even though they kill the virus. They can damage the upholstery, plastic and other surfaces in the interior. Isopropyl alcohol can deteriorate a protective coating and even remove the dye from the leather itself.
If you're going to use household cleaning wipes such as those made by Lysol or Clorox, absolutely avoid anything with bleach. And beware of spray disinfectants (again, Lysol), as they only work through direct contact. If you miss a spot, you may as well have not used anything at all. - autoblog.com
For Your Safety
Some products you may want to have on hand, for your safety, are hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, a mask and disposable gloves.
For more info, visit: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/community/organizations/disinfecting-transport-vehicles.html#:~:text=Gloves%20and%20any%20other%20disposable,if%20soap%20and%20water%20are
External links used:
https://www.autoblog.com/2020/03/12/coronavirus-car-interior-cleaning-how-to/
https://www.volvoofdayton.com/disinfecting-vehicle-interior-prevent-covid.htm
We hope this was a helpful blog! Thank you so much to our valued customers. We hope you are all staying safe in this hard time.
If you need to book an appointment with us, visit autocraftcc.com and contact one of our three locations today!