>> Hi. My name is Nimalie Stone, and I'm one of the CDC leads
for the COVID-19 response in long-term care facilities.
Today we are going to talk
about how sparkling surfaces stop the spread of COVID-19
and share some pointers for improving the cleaning
and disinfection of environmental
and equipment surfaces.
This is part of the key COVID-19 prevention messages
for frontline long-term care staff.
As you have heard, the residents you care for in nursing homes
and assisted living facilities are among the most vulnerable
to COVID-19 infections.
Because of their age, frailty, and chronic medical needs,
nursing home residents are more likely
to have severe illness leading to hospitalization and death.
Eight out of every 10 deaths from COVID-19 have occurred
in adults over 65 years of age.
We all must take action now to protect them.
The coronavirus causing COVID-19 is mostly spread from person
to person through respiratory droplets
when someone coughs or sneezes.
But it may also be possible for the virus to spread
from contaminated surfaces or objects, like the bedrails,
walkers, and tabletops you see in this picture.
Viruses and other germs can spread onto surfaces
when someone coughs or sneezes on them, or when someone
with infection touches a surface with contaminated hands.
Surfaces that are touched frequently increase the chance
that germs could be spread to other residents or staff.
While these surfaces may look clean,
pathogens could be lurking.
We also want to protect residents from infection
from some of the common pathogens found in
or on surfaces of long-term care facilities.
Which are shown in this figure.
Germs such as C. diff, MRSA, HIV, and norovirus.
But how long can they really survive on exposed surfaces?
The short answer is a pretty long time,
depending on the microbe.
For example, C. diff can form a spore,
which is basically a way the bacteria hibernates
and allows it to last for months and sometimes
over a year on many surfaces.
Most bacteria survive anywhere from a couple
of days to several months.
And viruses can also last on surfaces for several days.
The coronavirus causing COVID-19 has been shown to survive
on surfaces for several hours to days.
Proper cleaning and disinfecting are important ways
to keep surface pathogen levels low and prevent infection
from spreading to other residents.
How often do you touch these surfaces during your workday?
They are all examples of high-touch surfaces:
door handles, light switches,
bed pan cleaners, toilet handles.
But there are also high-touch, high-risk surfaces that are part
of shared equipment that is used
with multiple different residents throughout the day,
or could be handled by different people including residents,
healthcare staff, and others.
Stethoscopes, blood pressure cuffs,
and walkers are just a few.
So to start with, we need to know how
and when to clean surfaces.
The first place to start is with creating a process
for cleaning equipment and room surfaces.
Following the same pattern every time makes it easier
to ensure consistent cleaning.
Always go from dirty areas to clean and from top to bottom
in order to prevent recontaminating surfaces
that have already been touched.
Right now, you should think about increasing the frequency
of cleaning those high-touch, high-risk surfaces
to keep residents and staff even safer.
That might mean cleaning these surfaces
at least once a shift instead of daily.
Or trying to wipe
down high-touch surfaces every time someone enters the room.
And remember to build in time to wipe down
and clean all the equipment that is being shared
between residents so that germs don't get
to tag along on the ride.
Another part of your process should be determining
which staff are responsible for different pieces of equipment.
When it is unclear who is responsible for cleaning
and disinfecting a particular item,
those items can be missed entirely.
To prevent that from happening, your teams can work together
to note which staff type, whether frontline nursing
or housekeeping, would have the responsibility
to clean each item and talk
through how often they should be cleaned and disinfected.
Once everyone knows their responsibility for cleaning
and disinfecting surfaces, it is important to be familiar
with which products your facility uses
for each surface being cleaned.
And make sure those products are easily available
when you need them.
Know how to apply these products.
Remember, first you must clean the surface
and then you apply the disinfectant.
Many products need to remain on surfaces for several minutes
to fully kill the germs.
This is considered contact time and could vary
from one product to the next.
In this picture, you can see how one facility labeled their
disinfecting wipes with the contact time on each product
as a way to remind their staff how long
that product should remain on a surface
in order to fully disinfect.
Practice building surface cleaning
into other resident care workflow
so you can minimize the number of people that need
to enter each room and keep surfaces as clean as possible.
This could include things like deciding to wipe
down the bedside table and call button before
or after delivering meals.
Or wiping down the faucet and toilet rails
after each time someone assists a resident
when using the bathroom.
So remember, keeping surfaces sparkling clean
protects everyone.
Cleaning surfaces can keep COVID-19
from spreading in your facility.
And cleaning is everyone's responsibility.
So support one another to ensure the environment
where you provide care is safe for you
and your colleagues and residents.
Practice good surface cleaning at work and at home
to prevent germs from spreading among your family members
and keep COVID out of your home
and your facility and your community.
Here are some links to a variety of resources available
on the CDC website that provide more information about COVID-19,
additional guidance and tools.
Thank you.