Start by looking at your office and treatment rooms with a fresh eye. Think about having bare, easy-to-clean surfaces; you will be doing a lot of cleaning going forward. Give your space a deep clean, and consider what you might need to add or remove to make your space safer.
Remove
- Remove clutter, knick-knacks, and unnecessary items that don’t serve a purpose to your practice. Consider removing items (e.g., soft, comfy armchair) with surfaces that can’t be cleaned properly. There may be a time for these things to return to your treatment room, but for now, think about every surface a client interacts with in your space and how you can keep those surfaces clean for the health of all your clients.
- Remove all product testers and samples from your shelves and counters. Create client signage: “Let me know if you want to sample this product.”
- Rethink seating in any waiting areas, both in regards to their cleanability and their spacing so that clients are 3–6 feet apart, per the CDC; stagger client appointment start and end times so there is no client overlap in the waiting area. Remove unnecessary and communal items, including pillows and magazines.
- Eliminate self-serve items and treat jars, and move water dispensers to a place where the practitioner controls their use.
Clean
- Do a deep clean of all spaces. Use EPA-approved cleaning products and protocols on all surfaces in your space, top to bottom. Follow the disinfectant contact time, per the product manufacturer. Establish a cleaning schedule for a bathroom in a clinic setting (for example, every 20–30 minutes) and in a sole practitioner setting (wipe down bathroom surfaces after every client visit).
- Wash all linens, rugs, blankets, and curtains thoroughly and clean any holding receptacles for dirty laundry. Consider whether a laundry service would be helpful to you at this time. As customary, ensure you have a secure and covered way to store fresh linens and a separate lidded and lined receptacle for dirty linens.
- Clean bolsters, tables, chairs, and stools as directed by the CDC and product manufacturer. Certain porous materials can start to break down with repeated chemical disinfectant use. Barrier protections might be in order for tables, chairs, and bolsters.
- Clean light fixtures and switches; doorknobs, doors, and door frames. Clean floors thoroughly.
Add
- Have hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, and facial tissues available in all spaces. Have disposable paper towels or a standing wipe dispenser available to use when handling doorknobs.
- Have a hard-surfaced, nonporous chair or large hard-surfaced/plastic basket for clients to put their clothes on/in. You do not want client clothing to be laid over soft furniture that the next client will then sit on as they remove their shoes or disrobe.
- Lidded trashcans that are operated by a foot pedal will keep facial tissues and other waste products from remaining exposed to the treatment room air.
- If you have a restroom within your space, install no-touch soap and paper towel dispensers. Add a lidded, foot-pedal trashcan. Place CDC handwashing guidance posters inside your restroom.
- If you don’t have windows you can open in your client treatment spaces, consider adding a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) purifier. Although there is no direct evidence yet that these types of air purifiers can reduce the transmission of COVID-19, their use with similar viruses indicates they might help in some situations, and it would be logical that these filters could reduce concentrations of COVID-19 particles that remain airborne.