Decontamination Ideas

I was talking to my son recently. He is an EMT working at our local hospital. During this pandemic he is taking extra caution to keep himself, and his family, safe. When he does go home (he’s been staying with a single co-worker on his work days) he decontaminates himself. This is nothing elaborate. He has to change his work clothes at work and they are bagged and sanitized. He then goes home with gloves and a mask, wipes down his car, then changes clothes again bagging his civilian clothes, takes a shower taking care to scrub his hair, head, and hands (the most exposed parts of him when he’s working.) Then he is carefully wipes down his boots left outside for the night. This is not too radical, but he feels it necessary to keep his family safe.
This is his standard operating procedures (SIP) for his return home.

The COVID-19 crisis is bad but I feel my sons precautions are sufficient. But what if you needed a more aggressive decon getting into your home? I’ve had a lot of training in CBRN which is Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear warfare. In this training we learn how to operate in hot zones (exposed zones with protective gear on) and how to decontaminate to enter a cool zone.

Here are the zones and what they mean:

Zones
The Hot Zone is EVERYTHING and EVERYWHERE outside of your private dwelling.
The Warm Zone is the area that is under your control just outside your house, such as your driveway, front yard/fenced-in area, front porch, or even your garage.
The Cold Zone is inside the environmentally controlled area of your private dwelling; we can also term this the Safe Zone.

Coming in from a contaminated environment —— Hot Zone —— is a critical process. You need to ensure you don’t contaminate your house —— Cold Zone —— with whatever you bring in from the Hot Zone.
The Warm Zone is a buffer zone between the Hot and Cold Zones. The Warm Zone is essentially the transition corridor in your decontamination process. It is where you shed all potentially contaminated items and ultimately step over into the “clean” environment of the Cold Zone.
The Warm Zone is an added-safety area to have, though it is not critical to your transition once you are more adept at making the transition.

For instance my sons d con procedures make his porch his warm zone. He is able to leave his boots, most clothes, and his mask outside. The last thing he removes is his gloves that he throws into a trash bag that never enters the house. He decons his boots and mask with spray or wipe.
Inside his house he has gloves for re-entering the warm zone where his mask and boots are. He is careful not to let his shed clothes, gloves, mask, and boots enter the cold zone where he heads straight for the shower. Then the warm zone can be de-sanitized until the need to return to the hot zone is needed.

In CBRN a scrub station would be located in the warm zone. Clothes would be sprayed and removed, then the body would be scrubbed before entering the cold zone.

If you felt a need to do this you could build a simple scrub station with a tarp on the ground. A small wading pool could be used as a containment vessel and a hose with a sprayer can be the water source. Soap could be available and a scrub brush. A bleach mixture in a spray bottle can also be available but only for surfaces not clothes or a body. You could fashion a privacy covering with pallets and a tarp. I would only use this in the case of something more contagious or dangerous. These are always things to have in mind for a decontamination station.

I’ve never put a decon station together even to practice. But I am confident I could build something like the above easily.

Putting together a isolation room is also something that can be necessary during a quarantine. We have designated a room on the second floor of our home. We would seal it from the res of the house with plastic sheeting. The room is very close to a bathroom which would be desirable for an isolation room. This particular room also has a window for air flow which is highly desirable. If a patient needs care then a warm zone can be created outside the room where a care giver can don and doff PPE (personal protection equipment).

We put together a pandemic kit several years ago. I would suggest you do the same. The items we mentioned in the article should be included.
Gloves, hand sanitized, sanitizing wipes, N95 masks, disposable gowns, booties, and shower cap. These are only a few things to have on hand. Bleach (or way to make your own), a spray bottle, baby pool, and tarps. Plastic sheeting (at least 4 mil) and duct tape. There may be other things you would want in your kit or items.

Decontamination is something we all need to understand. Cross contaminating is easy to do so plan your procedures with order so that you can keep your cold zone (your home) clean and safe.
Paying attention to possibly contaminated items, gloves, clothes, is the best way to avoid cross contaminating. Keeping yourself and your cold zone clean is also a way of keeping everyone safe. We’ve been told, wash hands often and for at least 20 seconds, sneeze and cough into disposable items (kleenex) or at least into your elbow is also another way to stay clean.

Take the opportunity to make a list of what you have and what you may need for your pandemic kit so that when this is over, and it will be eventually, you can put together a kit to keep you prepared.

Semper Paratus
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