What precautions should I take while working from home in the COVID-19 quarantine?

The pandemic caused by the new coronavirus has directly affected the way people relate and will relate from now on.

Especially in the work environment, where companies needed to adapt quickly to keep their business going.

One of the main ways out was the option for remote work to reduce agglomerations and further spread of the disease.

In addition to the challenges related to productivity and processes working from home, you must also be aware of the hygiene care you need to protect yourself from the new coronavirus even when working from home.

It was thinking about you that need to work at the home office,  and also use other environments in the house, that we prepared this content.

Start with a general cleaning of your home

This is a good time for you to understand how cleaning your home can help prevent the spread of diseases and decrease the risk of infection in your home.

The new coronavirus is transmitted mainly from person to person through small drops of saliva or other body fluids that float in the air after a cough or sneeze.

Contaminated objects and surfaces can also be important in the transmission of disease.

Therefore, if someone at risk of having the virus is in your home, cleaning to reduce the amount of contamination on surfaces can help decrease the risk of further transmission of the coronavirus.

This will also reduce the risk of transmitting other diseases.

What should I use to clean and how?

Coronavirus has a structure that is very vulnerable to heat and detergents, including soaps.

Therefore, it is important to clean these environments, especially if you are working from home and will need to spend long periods in the same closed environment.

Here’s how to do the correct cleaning:

• Contaminated surfaces

Cleaning with a common household disinfectant will kill the virus. Remember to wash your hands after cleaning (or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer) and avoid touching your eyes, mouth or nose.

There are many options to use for cleaning, including paper towels, cloths or disposable tissues.

What you should pay more attention to is how you do this cleaning, so as not to contaminate the surface again at the time of sanitizing.

If you are reusing a cloth, remember to wash it afterwards and let it dry. Washing cloths in the washing machine with normal washing liquid will also kill the virus, especially in a hot wash.

• Plates and cutlery

Washing dishes and cutlery with hot water and detergent is a great option. A dishwasher is even better, because it can use hotter water than you would withstand washing with your hands.

• Clothes and sheets

Whenever you have the option of using hot water, use it! Especially in contaminated clothing, after washing let it dry completely.

Always observe the washing instructions for each piece beforehand, to avoid damaging your clothes and other materials.

The clothes of someone who is sick can be washed with other people’s items. If you are handling contaminated items, such as towels or sheets, avoid shaking them before washing to reduce the risk of contaminating other surfaces.

And remember to wash your hands immediately after touching any contaminated clothing.

It is better to prevent.

Clean your desk and equipment

In addition to taking care of all the cleaning of your home, you need to pay extra attention to your work environment.

It is there that you will spend most of your time and that you will have more contact with surfaces and various objects such as cell phones, notebooks and other accessories.

• Cleaning your cell phone

When it comes to cleaning a smartphone, care is paramount. These are expensive and delicate electronic components, which cannot have direct contact with certain solutions and abrasive cleaning materials.

Apple recently released the following statement:

“You can carefully clean the outer surfaces of the iPhone with a cloth moistened with 70% isopropyl alcohol or a Clorox cleaning cloth. Do not use bleach. Avoid getting the openings wet and do not immerse the iPhone in cleaning products ”.

So if you use an iPhone, you can rest assured. Other brands have also issued similar announcements.

If you have questions, check this information on the support page of your mobile phone manufacturer.

Before you begin, turn off the device, remove all cables and disconnect all accessories to have full access to the phone.

Your main cleaning tool should be a microfiber cloth. Anything that is soft and does not scratch the phone.

It is a good idea to start without liquids, just putting a little pressure on it, but if necessary, you can add warm water and soap to the mix.

Use it sparingly, applying it with your cloth and drying the device carefully with another cloth. Make sure to avoid excess moisture around the inlets and buttons.

• Cleaning your notebook

Before giving more details about cleaning, it is important to note that you should not use any product to clean the notebook.

Many people use homemade mixes, household cleaners, soap, gel alcohol or even pure alcohol.

All of these products can cause damage (some, in the long run) to your device.

Abrasive solutions are not recommended for this type of cleaning, as they can damage both the notebook housing and the screen, leaving strong stains on the device.

The most suitable product in these cases is 70% isopropyl alcohol. This is the best solution to clean the outside of electronic devices and peripherals without damaging the materials.

To clean the internal components, it is recommended to use isopropyl alcohol in a concentration of 99.8% or greater.

This alcohol has less than 1% water in its composition and is used by professionals in the cleaning of electronic and other components because of its efficiency and rapid evaporation. It does not cause any damage and kills most germs.

Here are tips on how to clean your notebook:

1. Unplug your notebook completely from the power outlet and disconnect any other device that is connected to it.
2. With a dry microfiber cloth, start cleaning by removing excess dirt. Try not to use lint-free microfiber cloths or that can scratch and bring problems to your device.
3. Now, with another cloth (also made of microfiber), put some 70% isopropyl alcohol and wipe the screen in straight movements. You do not need to apply force to not damage the screen with pressure. Remember to hold the screen from the back, so there is no danger of breaking the hinges;
4. Do the same procedure using alcohol and cloth to clean the device’s keyboard and housing, without applying force. Take care with your USB, video and other inputs. For them it is recommended that cleaning is done using alcohol and a cotton swab;
5. You can also clean the device’s cables with the cloth and alcohol.

Conclusion

We hope that you now have all the guidelines you need to keep your work safe from home, and of course, knowing how to properly clean each environment, appliance and accessory without causing damage to them.

By doing this, you will not only be protecting yourself but you will also be protecting those who live with you, contributing to the good of society as a whole.

It is actions like these that make the difference. If everyone does their part, together we can reduce the spread and impacts of this pandemic caused by the new coronavirus.

In this difficult time, Adnia Solutions reinforces its support to all our customers, suppliers, partners and friends who are facing this crisis together.

Covid-19 Management Template

If you are a manager, it is important that you have an overview of how your company, or the company you work for, is managing COVID-19 cases among employees.

Whether you are working from home or in the office, keeping this data documented and visually organized is a must. Mainly so that you can calculate the impact of this crisis in different sectors.

That is why Adnia Solutions created the COVID-19 Management Template, to help you examine the impact of daily measures within the organization to make better management decisions.