Germs You Bring Home Affect Your Indoor Air Quality

Everyone is vigilant these days about proper hygiene, disinfection and having good indoor air quality. There seems to be a huge demand for ventilation systems and air purifiers, ultra efficient furnace filters and HEPA filters. However, many GTA residents are forgetting about other threats to indoor air quality and the health of your home...pathogens brought home.

Germs you bring home can affect your indoor air quality.
So what do we mean when we say pathogens brought home. We mean germs, bacteria, mould spores and yes...viruses. When we get into our car, walk or take transit outside of our home environment, we invariably bring home whatever was in the car, bus, train, subway, office, grocery store, mall, school, etc. Whatever is airborne in these indoor environments can settle on our clothing, our bodies and our belongings from airborne settlement on to these items as well as contact transfer from the floor, seats, hand rails, etc.

Wherever we go, we pick up bacteria, viruses and pathogens and bring them home. These days with mask wearing and hand sanitizing we are less likely to inhale or ingest these pathogens while we are out. We are, however, at risk at brining them home where the whole family can inhale and ingest them later.

So how do we prevent bringing home pathogens from other indoor environments where out will affect our indoor air quality.

The best defence is to make sure you have an area where everyone takes off their shoes, places their bags, purses and backpacks before fully entering the home or apartment. This should also be where we take off our coats and leave anything that was not in the home for proper cleaning and disinfection. This can be an area in the garage, a mud room or even the front hall and foyer. You may also consider having a door or plastic barrier in this area to trap air from entering the home or apartment, even for a short while.