How to Get Through the Season of Sharing Without the Germs
You love the holidays. The food, the gatherings, the cozy chaos, the “just one more cookie” energy. What you don’t love is the uninvited guest that, unfortunately, is making its rounds earlier this year than ever.
Norovirus.
Yep. That one.
Norovirus season is officially here, and this year it’s arriving early and with enthusiasm. If you’ve ever experienced it in your home, you already know: this is not your average stomach bug. It’s fast. It’s aggressive. And it spreads like glitter at a kindergarten craft table. And personally, I hate it.
The good news? You’re not powerless here. With a few specific habits—and a couple of myths cleared up—you can dramatically lower your risk and protect your household without living in fear or turning your home into a biohazard zone.
Let’s get into what actually works.
First, What Is Norovirus (and Why Does It Spread So Easily)?
Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that causes vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, and stomach pain. It spreads through:
Contaminated hands
Shared surfaces
Food and utensils
Tiny particles that are released when someone gets sick
And here’s the kicker: it takes very little virus to infect someone. We’re talking microscopic amounts. That’s why one person getting sick can quickly turn into a household situation if you’re not mindful. This isn’t about panic. This is about precision.
The Non-Negotiables That Actually Matter
1. Hand Sanitizer Does Not Work Against Norovirus
Read that again. Then one more time for good measure.
Alcohol-based hand sanitizers do not effectively kill norovirus. They may reduce some germs, but norovirus is built differently. It shrugs sanitizer off like, “That’s nice.”
What works?
Soap and water
Friction
Time
Keeping your hands out of your mouth, nose, ears, and eyes
Wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water for at least 20 seconds. A helpful benchmark? Sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Not once. Twice.
You want:
Palms
Backs of hands
Between fingers
Under nails
Up to your wrists
This matters especially:
Before eating
After using the bathroom
After helping a child in the bathroom
After cleaning
If there’s one holiday habit (and beyond) you reinforce during this season, and pass long to your kids, let it be this one.
2. Disinfecting Is About Contact Time—Not Speed Cleaning
Contact time, contact time, contact time
This is where most people unintentionally miss the mark.
Spraying a surface and immediately wiping it off does not disinfect it. Every disinfectant has a required contact time—the amount of time it must stay wet on a surface to actually inactivate the virus.
Common examples:
Hospital-grade hydrogen peroxide wipes: ~2 minutes
Bleach solution: ~5 minutes
Hypochlorous acid (like Force of Nature): ~10 minutes
That means you need to:
Clean visible debris first
Saturate the surface (aka spray the shit out of it…yeah, I said it)
Let it sit for the full amount of time
Then wipe with paper towels and discard
Also important: disinfectants lose effectiveness over time. That bleach bottle sitting under your sink for years may no longer be doing what you think it is. Make sure to look up your product info to see if it will still be effective against norovirus (or any wintertime nasty bugs).
3. Use the Dishwasher—Not Hand Washing—for Dishes
Your sink water feels hot, but it’s not that hot. It usually hovers around the 120°F mark on average. To inactivate norovirus on dishes, water temperatures need to reach a certain temperature, and the dishes then need to sit in said hot water for the following times:
158°F for 5 minutes
212°F for 1 minute
145°F for 10 minutes
Your tap isn’t hitting those numbers. Your dishwasher can get a little higher, and hopefully, it has a dedicated sanitize setting (sorry eco mode, you need to sit this cycle out). Running dishes through the dishwasher—especially during gatherings or if someone feels off, or says it’s “allergies” (I kid, but still you get the point)—is one of the simplest ways to reduce spread in your home, or even prevent it in the first place.
A few bonus tips:
Skip hand-drying shared dishes
Swap out sponges frequently (or avoid them altogether during this season)
Consider dishwasher-safe utensils for gatherings
Even when no one is sick, this is a smart preventive habit.
4. Laundry: Hot, Long, and High
This isn’t a movie title, but more to inform you that norovirus can live on fabrics, too. That includes:
Towels
Bedding
Clothing
Carpets
Mats
When laundering:
Use the hottest water setting available
Choose the longest cycle possible
Dry on the highest heat setting
Heat matters here. Time matters here. This is not the moment for eco-short cycles or half-dry loads.
A Trusted Resource for Disinfectants
If you want to double-check whether a product you’re using is effective against norovirus—and what its contact time is—Environmental Protection Agency maintains a searchable list of approved disinfectants. This is all about using products correctly for prevention or damage control. Some of them include this one, this one, and this one (think hospital-grade disinfection levels here).
The Big Picture
You don’t need to obsess. You don’t need to fear every surface. You don’t need to cancel the holidays or live in fear.
What you do need is:
Accurate information
A few consistent habits
An understanding that speed ≠ effectiveness
Norovirus is persistent—but you’ve got this. Small, intentional actions go a long way toward keeping your home steady and well during a busy season. You can enjoy the gatherings. You can keep the traditions. You can protect your household without stress.
And that? That’s a holiday gift worth keeping.
