Disinfect Your Hotel Room Against COVID-19

Until more people are vaccinated, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends avoiding travel for now. Nonetheless, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) notes a growing number of Americans have decided it’s time to hit the road, whether to see relatives, attend a wedding or other event, or take that long-overdue vacation. This means many people are booking hotel stays, triggering questions about whether viruses on surfaces pose a risk.

Even people who are fully vaccinated may be feeling anxiety about germs when they travel. Consider the Connecticut couple Mindy and Jeff Siegel, who booked plane tickets to Boca Raton, Florida, for two weeks after their second Pfizer vaccination, when they knew they’d have the full veil of protection against COVID-19.

Still, the first thing Mindy did when they arrived at their hotel room was whip out the disinfecting wipes she’d brought from home, passing them over knobs, faucets, light switches, the telephone, and the remote control. “I wanted to clean things that made sense, but we didn’t go crazy scrubbing everything,” she says.

Was she taking prudent precautions, or going overboard? Here, experts weigh in on how to protect yourself from germs, especially the coronavirus, when you’re staying in a hotel or vacation rental home.