By Samuetta Hill Drew
There is a great deal of unknowns about the COVID-19 coronavirus. Health care professionals and scientists are making new discoveries regularly over the past few months. Their findings are founded upon evidence-based research. Unfortunately, many Americans have taken their health care prevention and cure advice about COVID–19 from individuals who are not qualified in either health care or the sciences. It is important for people to be very mindful who they listen to for health care advice, especially during this pandemic.
This suggestion is pertinent because the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just reported this month a study about harmful practices by some Americans. It reported that some Americans are putting their health at risk while trying to protect it.
The CDC report stated that a third of Americans surveyed have used risky cleaning practices to stop the spread of the COVID-19. Some people have put bleach in their food. Some wash their food products with bleach. Others have gargled or inhaled bleach – with some ingesting cleaners and disinfectants, while others have washed their bodies with household cleaning and disinfectant products.
None of these practices are recommended by the CDC or health care professionals. In fact, they are in direct contradiction to manufacturer’s warning labels. Just over a month ago, the makers of Lysol and Clorox issued a national media warning against this type of usage for their products.
This new research of risky behavior was published in last Friday’s CDC’s weekly health report. It was based upon an online panel survey of 502 adults in May of this year. The median age of respondents was 46 years.
People said they were cleaning more frequently because of the pandemic, but only about half said they really knew how to clean and disinfect their home safely. Those people who were surveyed acknowledged they used high-risk cleaning practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19. More likely these individuals reported health problems that were closely related to their cleaning practices more so than the COVID-19. This gap in understanding how to safely clean and handle cleaning products during this COVID-19 pandemic may explain why there is a sharp increase in the number of calls to poison centers recently.
The CDC believes the biggest problem area was people’s limited understanding about how to prepare cleaning solutions (this topic was addressed in one of our earlier COVID – 19 safety articles). Only 23 percent knew, for instance, to use only room temperature water to dilute bleach solutions. Thirty-five percent knew that bleach should not be mixed with vinegar, and 58 percent knew that bleach should not be mixed with ammonia.
About 71 percent said they knew gloves were recommended for use with some cleaning materials and 68 percent said they knew they should wash their hands after using cleaning products. Most people also said they knew they should keep cleaning products out of the reach of children, but only 54 percent knew that hand sanitizers should be kept in a place that children could not reach.
The CDC recommends that people always read the instructions on cleaning products. When cleaning, wear gloves or other protective gear. Also do not mix cleaning chemicals!
Remember when Keeping an Eye on Safety during this pandemic COVID-19 that bleach and sunlight might kill the coronavirus on a park bench, but it can be harmful to the body.
