Coronavirus Shoe Changing Station For Disinfecting Soles After Exposure

ByKen J. Last Update
45 Comments
How to get Coronavirus off soles of your shoes.

Coronavirus COVID-19 may remain active on surfaces on average from 4 to 5 days, and even up to 9 days. This is a serious concern and potential means of contagion.

In my view, one’s shoes are a high risk factor.

You might take all appropriate precautions while making that careful grocery store or supply run. You don’t touch anything that you don’t have to. Never touching your face with hands. Disinfecting shopping cart handles. Applying disinfectant upon returning to your vehicle. Washing your hands when you get home (the right way).

However when you return home and enter the premises, you may be tracking in Coronavirus right onto your own floor!

Moreover, when you eventually remove those shoes, you may get the virus on your hands if you happen to touch the soles. And if you subsequently touch your face, nose, mouth, eyes – you may become infected.

Is this being overly paranoid? Heck no! This is real!

[ Read: How Long Coronavirus Stays On Surfaces ]

How Can Caronavirus Get On Your Shoes?

The virus may get on the soles of your shoes when you walk on the virus itself. That’s a logical reasonable assumption.

You can’t see it. But you might best assume that it’s possibly there.

But how does it get on the floor?

>> If and when someone coughs or sneezes who has Coronavirus.

The droplets may spread out 6 – 10 feet and then settle to the floor (and/or anything in it’s path). These distances will vary. Some suggest it may be further. But suffice it to say, you might assume that the floor in these stores might have virus on them (until they are disinfected).

How To Get Coronavirus Off Your Shoes

Spray the soles with disinfectant. That’s what I do now.

If you’re in a warm climate, you can do this outside. Have a chair outside your door, maybe on your porch – wherever. Keep a ‘clean’ pair of shoes next to it.

Sit down. Remove one shoe while not handling the soles. Spray the bottom of the sole. Get it good and wet. Repeat for the other shoe. Let the shoes sit there to air dry on their own. Simply put on your spare ‘clean’ shoes and go about your day.

If you’re in a cold climate or season, set up a shoe changing station right inside your door. Better yet, in the garage before you enter the house (if you have one). Buy one of those plastic boot trays (I have a number of them at home on the floor in my ‘mud room’ entrance. Use that tray as you spray your soles – letting the excess drip off. Place your sprayed shoes to dry.

The Formula

I mix up a solution of bleach water that’s 2500 ppm bleach/chlorine (for non-food surfaces). Enough to put in a spray bottle. A cup or two at a time. I leave the spray bottle at the Coronavirus shoe changing station. Easy.

Use a heavy duty spray bottle designed for chemicals (like this one on amzn) because bleach solution tends to diminish the life of the cheap bottle sprayer mechanisms over time.

Here’s the formula for making that disinfectant solution:

4 teaspoons regular bleach (6% sodium hypochlorite) added to 2 cups water.

This is equivalent to 3/4 cup bleach per gallon of water.

A ratio of 1:22
~ 5%

[ Read: Bleach Water Ratio For Disinfecting ]

[ Read: Make Your Own Bleach With Pool Shock ]


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45 Comments

  1. Wellllll
    OK, but what happens when you leave the store?
    Probably get into the Truck and drive, now the floor of the Truck is Infected.
    Next you walk to the “Shoe Changing Station”, the Floor of the Garage of Driveway is now infected.
    And the next time you drive the truck your shoes get infected again (up to 5 days remember), that thinking your ok, you just walk into the house….

    It’s a never ending cycle.

    Here is one for you, someone infected pets your Dog, than you head home and your entire household and everything you have is infected.

    My friends, this is bad mojo for sure.
    PS: don’t count of a vaccine soon, 12-18 months out is the prediction.

    1. NRP,
      As long as you don’t touch or lick the truck’s floor mat, you’re all set. Though you could also choose to spray it.

      The floor of the garage… as long as you don’t roll around on the floor there, it’s better than virus being inside the house. And it will be inactive after several days ( 4 – 5 on average).

      I know you can carry this to the extreme. And at some point it seems ridiculous.

      But I thought I would put out this message, because as more and more people become ill (we are not anywhere near the peak), there will likely be more contamination out there.

      As we put our heads together and come up with possible ways to mitigate some of this, I believe that’s a good thing.

      1. Ken;
        Sorry was not trying to be obnoxious as I sometimes am.
        But the point is how far can this go? like you said.
        Tis good to keep running articles like this to keep people thinking.

        PS: I gave up the licking of the Truck Floor Mats once I stopped eating in the truck…. GATA get those few drops of Ice Cream ya know HAHAHA

      2. Shoe ( and tyre) hygiene should be a familiar biosecurity measure for any livestock farmer. Animal diseases can be spread from farm to farm on the mud and manure stuck to boots. We used a tray of disinfectant to walk and drive through
        All the evidence suggests that soles are not significant in the spread of this virus. Continue to use the normal dog poo precautions for footwear.

      3. I f you DO decide to lick the floor mats, just make sure you swallow! The acid in your stomach will kill the virus instantly!!

    2. NRP,

      Its warming up outside. Maybe you can wash the bottoms of your boots when you get home??? (we have hot and cold hose bib that I use to wash the mud from my boots and from Jake’s paws). Also you gotta realize that while this virus might live for days on a surface, that is worse case scenario. chances are a lot of it is going to die in the sunlight. Another suggestion: maybe fill a 5 gallon bucket with a couple of inches of “off spec organic parts cleaner”, dip your tootsies in there when you get home. Of course the house will smell a bit like gin, but doesn’t it already? As for Blue, just squirt him down with a hose, labs love that. The wet dog smell will be offset by the gin smell from your decontaminated shoes. Keep it safe, keep it real.

      1. Minerjim:
        Thinking the vapor from the Shine and The stink from Blue’s farts will kill that Virus in about 1.3 seconds.
        🤣😂😁

    3. I have a can of disinfectant spray in my truck and I spray the bottom of my shoes in the grocery store parking lots before getting back in my truck. Yeah, you’ll get some looks, but who cares? I spray them again before going into my garage, then I take them off before entering my home. I learned in microbiology lab in college that microscopic nasties love to hitch a ride into your house on the bottoms of your shoes.

  2. My job is considered “essential” and I go into multiple homes a day. I do have disposable booties and I wash/sanitize my hands before and after leaving each house. I’ve had people question my health, it’s ironic because some of these same people live in filth. It’s sucks, I’m not worried about my health but I don’t want to compromise anyone.

  3. Here is a link to a recent article in the South China Morning News by one of their columnists who lived in Hong Kong during the 2003 SARS outbreak. Read the description of how they entered and left their apartment.

    https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3047964/those-asian-people-wearing-face-masks-amid-coronavirus-fears-they-arent

    At the time this was as bad is it got with virus outbreaks. You have to have the concept of outdoor shoes/clothes and indoor shoes/clothes and have a place where you enter to make the change.

    By all means disinfect your shoes/clothes, but also consider having a clear line where you shift from out to inside.

  4. I made the last trip to town on Monday.We are now isolating until whenever.When I got home I undressed on the back porch and put
    my clothes in a garbage bag and tied it up.They are still there and the shoes were wiped top and bottom with Lysol.Then off to the shower.

    Every item purchased was also wiped with Lysol before coming in the house.We will wash the town clothes with bleach in a few days.
    Some one on another site said that below freezing temperatures will
    not kill this virus.Does any one know for sure?

    Not soul in town was wearing a mask,eye protection,or using a wipe on
    the shopping cart!! I’ve heard that you can’t fix stupid.Im now convinced.

    There are no precautions to extreme when it comes to saving lives

      1. Very true SmG,

        viruses are not affected by freezing as such. Particularly if they are dry and oxygen free. And as you say they are stored in labs in liquid nitrogen for further research, and they are still “live”.

        Anything that denatures (damage) proteins will kill them.

        Like..

        1. Heat – like “fever” then hot water (tap max. temp) & hot air (try a hair dryer on heat) work well, indeed scolding water on metal, crockery and hard plastics is very effective and of course cooking.

        2. Oxidizers – bleach, peroxides, ozone, sulphur dioxide, even atmospheric oxygen

        3. Damaging radiation – UV-light (like what you see in some of those air hand dryers)

        4. Reacting with chemicals such acids & alkalis

        5. In theory, highly ionic substances, such as salt, should also work. If the virus’s proteins fall apart then it should be deactivated.

        Detergents may/may not have an effects depending on their ability to damage proteins, often this is by the above ionic method.

        1. Just a thought..

          Laundry detergent with “enzymes” in them should chop up the virus proteins, so that should kill them too.

  5. If we tell the Clintons that the virus knows bad stuff about Bill and Hillary
    you can bet that Covid-19 will disappear very soon.

  6. The news just reported that Chuck Norris came in contact with the Wuhan flu. The virus is now in a 14 day quarantine.

    1. Humor, at times much needed. The current one going around:

      “You know why there is a toilet paper shortage?”

      “When someone sneezes, eight people sh$t themselves.”

  7. Important information, Wife and I learned about this a while ago. We do curb side pick up now for resupply. We keep our shoes in the garage.

    We lost a friend to the virus today. We all need to do everything we can to protect our selves.

    1. Man on foot:
      Very sorry to hear about your friend.
      Makes this very real very quickly.

      Please prepare all you can, this is going to effect us all.

      1. Thank’s NRP & Blue, He was 80 yrs old but in good shape. He went quick, didn’t figure out what happened till the autopsy..

    2. My condolences regarding losing your friend to the virus. This thing is very real. It’s going to affect many, many more.

      Some may choose to ignore it, or scoff at it. Maybe it will not bite them personally. But given the stats that are currently available, I’ll bet most everyone will know someone (if not many more) that get knocked down by this Coronavirus.

      I am about preparedness. That is the motivation for spending so much of my life on this over the past decade. I have felt compelled to go down this road. Even at great expense compared to my previous career. Hopefully it helps one or two people over the years. The rest can laugh. I don’t care… So be it.

        2. One small voice, Ken? I think not. Yours has been heard by many, and you have the grace/wisdom to allow others to talk, as well. I’ve learned a lot on this site, and a lot of the reason I’m as prepared as I am is because of you and the others here. Thank you for this!

      2. Ken,
        You can count me amongst the many who are grateful for the work you’ve done for so long on this site. The knowledge I’ve gained (or re-gained!) is invaluable.

        It was precisely because I check in now and then, that I became aware of the novel coronavirus situation in China, way back in mid Jan I guess, and all inconsistencies and strangeness therein.

        It is because of you, as well as the many who regularly contribute here, that I and my family squared away our water stores, food, cleaning, pandemic, and hygiene (TP!) stores (before the mad rush), medication stores (before the presumed shortages begin), improved home security and finally picked up that short wave radio and of course, that Berkey water filter.

        This positive influence extends beyond my immediate family, as I can count at least three other families that heeded my warnings and readied themselves, at least to some degree, before the situation became obvious. We were all a bit ahead of the curve and that is largely due to this blog.

        You do great work here. So do those who comment.

    5. Man on foot
      I wondered how long it would be before someone on this blog, or a close friend or relative, was impacted by serious illness or death from Covid19. I’d hoped it would have been longer, but I suspect there may be more in the coming weeks. I’m so sorry for your loss. Stay strong and stay safe. We are all likely in for a bit of a brutal marathon here…do what you can to help others along with the knowledge we all have and discuss here.

    3. Chevy, I don’t know what it is, but there is a real mystery about this Coronavirus issue.

      Official story lines don’t make sense. Scientists, on the whole, are silent in the media and press, unless its approved sources. There’s a war against people who do tell you the difference between a bacteria and a virus, even though the “official” methods we’re being told to use are for bacteria control only, not viral. Firstly, they came out strong against face masks, now they are under fire for not giving masks to medical staff who are now dying from the virus. In my book, any protection against the virus, 100% protective or not is better than none.

      Here’s the mystery

      – why didn’t they lock down all the people returning from China/far east, since November? (and anyone they had contact with).

      – why didn’t the World Health Organization have a set of classes, methods and practices for each nation to classified into and then protection methods for workers etc. So a VIRAL STATUS Class 1 nation had no new cases in the last 21 days, say, had 100% border isolation and authorities moving to detain anyone for 21days who was suspect. Then all the Class 1 nations could keep on freely commuting etc. (and of course a set of rules for all those who come up from the VIRAL STATUS lower class countries – e.g. those with active cases etc)

      You see – PREVENTION is cheaper than CURE. 1B$ v’s 1T$. US, Canada, Aus, NZ and most of W. Europe could have been Class 1, it just takes determination and grit. Then everyone would be business as usual, instead of shutting down everything and ghost cities.

      With pretty much MARTIAL LAW now being established in all these countries, what’s THEIR next move and just who are THEY?

  11. I’m often looking for a lazy way to get something done…comprehensively.

    Lately I have taken to pulling into the driveway in my loaded van, undressing and donning a bathrobe in the garage, tossing the clothes and shoes in the van, and hanging up my mask in the van.

    Then grab an ozone cleaner and sticking it in the closed van and running it for an hour or so.

    Gets the whole kit and caboodle.

    Come out later and put stuff away.

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