Tips for Deep Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Property

Stepping up your cleaning and disinfecting practices can help minimize the spread of infectious diseases like COVID-19 in your church.

The coronavirus can be spread by touching a contaminated surface, and it may be viable for hours up to days on chairs, desks, pews, counters, door handles, phones, computer keys, microphones and more. Experts say that cleaning surfaces followed by disinfection is a best practice measure for prevention of COVID-19 and other viral respiratory illnesses in community settings.

If you are in a state that is urging churches, ministries and/or schools to suspend in-person worship services or classes, please use this downtime to perform a deep clean and disinfection of your facility as regulations allow — especially in high-touch, high-traffic areas.

A note before you get started: Please be sure to review the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) guidance with your employees and volunteers about proper procedures for cleaning and disinfecting your facilities.

How to Clean and Disinfect

• If surfaces are dirty, they should be cleaned using a detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.
• For disinfection, diluted household bleach solutions, alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol and most common EPA-registered household disinfectants should be effective.
• Diluted household bleach solutions can be used if appropriate for the surface. Follow the manufacturer's instructions for application and proper ventilation and check to ensure the product is not past its expiration date. Never mix household bleach with ammonia or any other cleanser. Unexpired household bleach will be effective against coronaviruses when properly diluted.

Update Your Cleaning Procedures

As you plan to improve your cleaning and disinfecting procedures, ask your team questions to help develop a robust process. Here are a few ideas to get the conversation started:

• Are all of our frequently touched surfaces involved in the cleaning process (e.g., doors, handles, water fountains, tables, sinks, check-in stations, touch screens, toys)?
• Does the cleaning crew wear gloves?
• Is the entire staff cleaning their hands regularly?
• Will we provide additional hand sanitizer stations around campus for everyone to use?
• Do we need to take extra cleaning measures?

For more information on how to clean your facility, check out these resources from the CDC. And for more resources from GuideStone Property and Casualty^® regarding COVID-19, click here.