It’s 2020, and flu season is on a lot of people’s minds. We know it’s important to keep our surroundings clean, but did you know there’s a difference in the types of clean? Cleanliness in terms of health includes disinfecting, sanitizing, or both.
Here are the quick facts on the differences between cleaning, disinfecting, and sanitizing!
- Cleaning: physically removes germs and debris from the surface. Think of washing your hands with warm soapy water. Did it kill the germs? Not necessarily. It just sent them down the drain.
- Disinfecting: kills germs. Think of bleaching or using chemical disinfectants in the sink you washed your hands in earlier. This kills those germs that you washed from your hands and into the sink.
- Sanitizing: lowers the number of germs on a surface to levels deemed safe by public health standards like those used in inspecting childcare facilities. Sanitizing is a form of cleaning or disinfecting. This could mean washing your hands so it’s safe to prepare food or disinfecting a table with a flu killing spray solution.
If you start to feel unwell, your local MEDcare is here to help! Our centers are open 8:00 am to 8:00 pm- no appointment necessary! You can also use our Save My Spot option here. If you need us, we look forward to helping you Get Better. Faster!
