How to Clean a Bathroom During Flu Season
Cold and flu season is here, and it’s a challenging one already. Viruses, bacteria and just plain old germs are everywhere, ready to assail our immune systems. While most public environments are beyond our control, we have quite a few measures we can take in our own homes to stop the spread of pathogens, and the bathroom is at the forefront of the battle. Cleaning bathrooms during flu season is one of the most effective ways to reduce the spread of germs at home.
1. Recognize How Easily Germs Spread in Your Bathroom
Make a mental list of all of the hard surfaces you touch when you use a washroom—door handles, light and fan switches, cabinetry knobs and pulls, faucet handles on the sink, controls on the bathtub or shower, hampers, trash cans, and the toilet lever, as well as the seat and lid. Our feet and hands make contact with the shower, and our entire body has contact with the bathtub. Then, there’s the counter space and floor.
Germ Hotspots in Your Bathroom
Next, add all of the soft surfaces—hand towels and bath towels, tissues and toilet paper, bathroom rugs and shower curtains. There are also soaps, cosmetics and other personal care items like toothbrushes or blow dryers, for example, that we keep in the bathroom too.
Each surface that you or someone else touches becomes a germ reservoir—a point for the indirect transmission of germs to the next person who touches it.
2. Sanitize Surfaces and Items That Are Commonly Touched
Germs can live on dry surfaces for hours, days and even weeks. In fact, viruses typically remain active on hard bathroom surfaces like stainless steel porcelain, and plastic longer than they do on soft, porous materials like fabric. Every time someone touches a surface—whether it’s a toilet handle, faucet, or light switch—they may introduce new germs or pick up existing ones.
Clean High-Touch Areas Frequently
To reduce the spread of illness, make a habit of sanitizing bathroom surfaces multiple times a day during flu season. Focus on countertops, sink handles, toilet flushers, and doorknobs, as these areas are touched often and can harbor viruses and bacteria. Frequent disinfection helps eliminate germs before they multiply and spread to others in your household.
3. Install Touchless Bathroom Appliances
Sensor technology and smart apps offer amazing opportunities to eliminate the need to touch switches, handles and other controls at all.
Smart Features to Prevent Spreading Germs
These innovations aren’t just convenient—they significantly reduce points of contact in the bathroom, limiting the spread of germs and viruses during flu season. Light switches can be voice-activated. The wave or tap of a hand can turn a faucet on and off or activate a soap dispenser. You can pour the perfect bath or start a relaxing steam bath with the tap of an app. Toilet lids can open automatically, and toilets can be self-cleaning and allow completely personalized—and touchless—operation. You can even find touchless trash cans.
Related: Shop Touch-free Bathroom Appliances
4. Use Antimicrobial Materials
Germ Resistant Finishes for Bathrooms
Products are available that incorporate antimicrobial materials and finishes like Microban to prevent mold, mildew and bacteria on handles and switches, for example. Modern manufacturers are creating surfaces with germ-resistant finishes that make cleaning faster and more effective. These materials reduce the need for frequent scrubbing while maintaining a sanitary environment—ideal for flu season and year-round bathroom hygiene.
However, many manufacturers are also choosing nonporous materials or engineering composites for larger items that are not only durable and beautiful but also easy to clean and resistant to germs and stains. From sinks and countertops to bathtubs and shower surrounds, bathroom features that are easy to keep clean and sanitary are an industry focus.
Related: Shop Antimicrobial Bathroom Sinks
5. Clean and Disinfect Showers to Prevent Germ Build-Up
Even when we’re well, standing in a shower and letting it stream the day’s worries away is a stress-relieving ritual. When we’re sick, the shower becomes a refuge of warm water and steam that will hopefully relieve aches and pains and help us breathe better. What that means for the next person who uses the shower, however, is that the shower should be cleaned. Keeping a shower spray and squeegee handy is a big step toward making sanitizing the shower easy. Just a few quick swipes can send germs and excess moisture down the drain.
Don’t Overlook Shower Curtains and Liners
If you’re using a shower curtain and liner, that can be another place that harbors germs simply because the curtains can be a pain to take down, clean and put back up. Glass shower doors can be easy to sanitize right in place.
6. Use Fresh or Disposable Towels
You have some choices here, but the idea is to stop the transfer of germs to others—and maybe even prevent you from reinfecting yourself. Moist towels can not only harbor viruses but also serve as a breeding ground for bacteria, odors and mold. Hand towels and bath towels should be washed after each use.
Prevent Germ Spread with Clean Towels
This is an important part of maintaining bathroom hygiene during flu season. If you don’t have sufficient hand towels to do that, you may want to switch to paper towels or keep a box of wet wipes readily accessible—especially if you’re having guests over.
7. Get Organized.
Most of us keep a lot of personal care and beauty items in our bathrooms. We need them, but if they’re taking up space on counters, in the shower or around the bathtub, they can interfere with our ability to clean. They actually become yet another thing that we need to handle and move around while someone is sick. Meanwhile, they collect dirt and moisture.
Hygienic Bathroom Design and Storage Solutions
There are many effective ways to keep your bathroom organized. If you’re dealing with limited space, consider using acrylic bins to store small items that would otherwise be loose in your cabinets. Dividers are a great way to bring some organization to unruly drawers. If you have multiple people living in the house, consider creating travel caddies for each resident that can be easily stored in a cabinet or on a shelf when not in use.
8. Manage Laundry and Bathroom Waste to Prevent Germs
Keeping up with the laundry and the trash seems simple, but it really is important. If you empty receptacles frequently, you won’t have the problems of overflow or having to handle dirty items more than once. After all, handling soiled or contaminated laundry and waste is a common method of transmitting germs in the bathroom. Having adequate receptacles also helps to mitigate clutter so that cleaning surfaces and bath areas remains a quick and easy task.
9. Use Ventilation and a Bathroom Air Purifier
Many viruses and germs are transmitted through the air when we sneeze, cough or breathe. Simply running a bathroom ventilation fan to keep air moving and remove steam and humidity can help to keep the bathroom environment drier and make it more difficult for germs to hang in the air.
Why Add a Bathroom Air Purifier?
Adding a small bathroom air purifier is also an option. They run periodically for just a few minutes at a time and remove airborne impurities that are present in the air. While air filtration captures particles, air purifiers can also sanitize the air, depending on the model.
What they treat and how they do it depends on the actual purifier. Some models use ultraviolet light, charcoal filters, or a combination of technologies to disinfect the air in your bathroom—supporting better hygiene during flu season and year-round.
10. Don’t Forget the Floors—and Everything Else
In today’s world, knowing how to clean your bathroom and other communal spaces in your home remains vital year-round and will only increase in importance during cold and flu season. The trick is to make it easy by doing simple things like taking advantage of modern technology when updating or replacing bathroom fixtures, investing in low-maintenance materials and designs, and developing clean bathroom habits that support long-term hygiene and germ prevention.
Simple Bathroom Hygiene Tips for Cold and Flu Season
Regularly disinfect high-touch areas, don’t forget the bathroom floors, and keep laundry and trash under control. These small but impactful actions can make a major difference in how quickly germs spread in shared spaces. By staying on top of these habits, you’re not just maintaining cleanliness—you’re protecting your household’s health.
If you’d like more information on bathroom hygiene tips or ways to make your home healthier and more efficient, Coburn’s is the perfect resource. Explore our website, or stop by your nearest Coburn’s Kitchen & Bath Showroom. We have conveniences, appliances and everything else you need to make your bathroom and every other room in your home beautiful, comfortable and healthful for every season of the year.