After a contagious illness
Infectious disease disinfection in Santa Maria
A stomach virus that went through a household. A relative with a hard-to-kill infection who came home from hospital. A staff room after an outbreak. Sometimes the worry is not a stain you can see but what may be left on the surfaces.
Phone answered all day and all night, seven days a week
Cleaning first, then the right product
A careful company cleans surfaces first and disinfects second, and it chooses the product for the germ in question. No single spray is right for every illness.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency registers these products and publishes lists by germ: one list for norovirus, another for the spores of C. difficile, and so on. The agency's instructions are plain. Use the product as its label says, on the surfaces it is approved for, and keep the surface visibly wet for the whole contact time printed on the label.
What to ask a company
- Which illness are you treating for, and which product will you use against it?
- Is that product on the EPA list for that germ?
- How long does it need to stay wet, and how do you make sure it does?
- Which surfaces and rooms are included: only what people touch, or soft furnishings too?
- When can the rooms be used again?
Clear answers to these are a good sign. Vague ones are a reason to keep asking.
What nobody can promise
No company can certify that a room is without germs, and none should say it can. What a proper job does is lower the amount of live virus or bacteria on surfaces at the time of treatment. People can bring the same illness back in the next day.
Questions about who is at risk, how long someone is contagious or whether a household needs disinfection at all are medical questions. Ask the doctor or the hospital that treated the person.
When body fluids are involved
If the illness left blood, vomit or faeces in bedding, carpet or furniture, the job becomes part cleanup and part disinfection. Tell the company what is there. Soaked items may have to be removed, not treated, as described on the page about blood and bodily fluid cleanup.
Questions about disinfection
Is fogging a room enough?
Ask the company which product it fogs with and what the label says about that method and the surfaces involved. The EPA's rule of thumb still applies: the surface has to stay wet for the full contact time.
Do we need to leave the house?
For some products, yes, for a period stated on the label. The company should tell you before the day, so you can plan for children, pets and anyone with breathing problems.
Can an office or a daycare use this service?
Yes. Say what kind of premises it is, how large, and whether part of it must stay open while the work is done.
Whenever suits you
Hand the room to people whose trade this is
Two sentences about the situation are plenty. You then hear how the firm would tackle it and what it would bill. Yes or no is yours alone to say, today or next week.
The number for Santa Maria and the valley
Whoever picks up belongs to a cleanup firm that takes jobs from Guadalupe up to Grover Beach. It is a separate business from this website. Name your town, say what sort of place it is, and ask anything.
Call (805) 362-1926Phone answered all day and all night, seven days a week
The call may be recorded. How this works is set out in the referral disclosure.