Do Not Shake Out Dirty Laundry
Want to protect yourself and your family members from the coronavirus, especially if someone in your family is currently experiencing potential COVID-19 symptoms? Here’s a tip directly from the CDC: Don’t shake your dirty laundry.
I am not in the habit of doing this, so I admit it sounds a little odd to me. Is it something like pet hair removal, food crumbs, or something similar? (I’m just sending my food crumbs to the wash.) But obviously this is a thing because here it is, included in the CDC’s guidelines for suspected / confirmed COVID-19 households :
If possible, do not shake dirty laundry. This minimizes the possibility of the virus spreading through the air.
CDC also recommends wearing disposable gloves when handling dirty laundry (if gloves are not present, you should wash your hands immediately afterwards) and wash the laundry in the “warmest suitable water” and then dry them completely.
You must either clean / disinfect the laundry basket after removing the dirty laundry, or put a disposable (or washable) bag inside. Basically, you want to clean everything that may have come into contact with dirty clothes that may have come into contact with the coronavirus: hands, laundry baskets, laundry tables, etc.
On the other hand, you do not need to load the laundry separately for sick and healthy people. “A sick person’s dirty laundry can be washed with other people’s belongings,” advises the CDC.
For more information on how to keep your home as clean as possible if someone in your family has potential COVID-19 symptoms, check out the full list of CDC resources .
Otherwise, let’s continue social distancing and take care of ourselves, our loved ones, and our communities – because I’m not the only one hoping that someday soon we can all shake things up again.