WA Poison Center calls spike due to COVID-19 cleaning mistakes

Everyone is advised to use disinfectants against COVID-19, but there is such a thing as an unsafe way to take safety precautions — as evidenced by the fact that the Washington Poison Center has experienced an upsurge in calls reporting accidental poisonings from cleaning products.

The number of toxic exposures due to cleaners increased 23% compared to this time last year, according to data from the Washington Poison Center.

Pam Wireman, a Snohomish County physician assistant with Western Washington Medical Group, believes this spike in accidents is directly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Everything that we use in our homes, from hand sanitizer to detergent, can all cause harm if they’re ingested,” said Wireman.

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Kids spending more time at home during the quarantine, and parents busy working at home makes for a recipe for young children getting hold of and consuming toxic cleaners, Wireman said. The solution is to make sure every disinfectant is out of their way.

“You want to get them off the counters, put them away, out of sight, out of reach — preferably behind a locked cabinet,” she said.

That means putting them away as soon as you bring them home from the grocery store, rather than letting the bags sit on the counter.

Marking harmful substances with stickers, such as the lime-green “Mr. Yuk” stickers, lets children easily recognize what should not be touched, even if they are not yet reading age.

But accidental poisonings are not just increasing among children — there are also plenty of mistakes adults are making out of a desire to clean every surface thoroughly.

For instance, some homeowners are making their own disinfectant cocktails by combining two different cleaning products together.

But Brian Sansoni, a cleaning specialist with the American Cleaning Institute, said that in this case, two are never better than one. The chemical reaction that occurs can create a poison gas that can harm your skin or even cause your airways to close, making breathing difficult.

“You especially don’t want to mix bleach with ammonia or vinegar — the chemicals can combine and create a little noxious cloud that can be very harmful,” Sansoni said. “So please, think twice before mixing once.”

The Washington Poison Center has also received reports of people washing their hands or faces in bleach.

“Never do that,” Sansoni said. “Those products are meant to clean surfaces, not the skin.”

Sansoni said that good old soap and water are perfectly effective in killing germs, and far less likely to burn the skin.

Face masks should also never be washed in bleach. Because of where the mask sits on your face, you will be breathing in whatever you used to wash it.

“You really shouldn’t be spraying them with disinfectants and then putting them back on,” Sansoni said. “The safest bet is to launder them.”

When you do use disinfectants to clean counters and tables, try to open windows to air the room out and make sure kids are in another part of the house. Allow the cleaner ample time to dry to make sure it is doing its job.

If there’s any doubt about what cleaning products to use on a household surface, he said a person can never go wrong with detergent and water.

If you do have an accident with chemicals, contact the Washington Poison Center at 800-222-1222. To learn more or order free “Mr. Yuk” stickers to mark toxic substances with, visit the Washington Poison Center’s website. For more tips on cleaning during the pandemic, visit the American Cleaning Institute.

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