The stress caused by fears of getting sick in this pandemic has made people more vigilant. Aside from properly wearing face masks in public, frequent handwashing and maintaining social distance, some have come up with their own set of precautionary measures including setting up a mini cleanup station by their front door.

When they get home, they take off and leave all footwear at the door or on a rack. They then disinfect with hand sanitizer or rubbing alcohol placed on a tray nearby. Phones, wallets and coin purses are placed in a portable box that emits virus-zapping UV light. Others strip off their clothes and deposit them in a hamper for immediate laundering.But how often should one be doing laundry seeing as we are still struggling with the effects of new coronavirus disease (COVID-19)? A New York Times article published last March said that clothing shouldn’t be one’s biggest concern. “Above all else, experts stressed the importance of frequent handwashing with soap and water (or hand sanitizer, if you have it) as the best preventive measure.”

Still, as a regular practice, changing out of one’s clothes if one has come from outside especially after taking public transportation is sound advice. The virus can live for up to three days on surfaces like buttons or zippers although the risk of infection from touching these surfaces is low.

Most people might say, better safe than sorry and proceed to launder a load of soiled clothes.

One appliance brand that is up for the task is Beko Pilipinas, the Philippine subsidiary of Europe’s No. 1 home appliances brand and a market leader in the white goods segment.

Their front-loading washing machines have a number of features designed to tackle a range of specific tasks. Each washing machine has AquaWave technology where clothes are massaged in a gentle wave-like manner through a set of paddles in the drum. The specially designed drum pattern gently carries the laundry so they move smoothly around. Paddles with wave form contribute in gently caring for your laundry while the curve on the door glass provides more mixing effect. This ensures that the properties of antibacterial laundry detergents and other cleaning agents are evenly absorbed by the fabric while saving precious energy.

Beko’s Anti-allergy program washes clothes at high temperatures for longer and includes an additional rinse cycle to remove all bacteria and allergens like dust, pollen and animal hair.

Best for babies, sensitive skin

The appliance brand’s specially developed antiallergic BabyProtect+ program is best for babies and those with sensitive skin. Get maximum hygienic cleansing results with additional drum movements and sensitive temperature control.

For this particular program, the temperature is maintained at a certain level throughout the wash cycle. This program is designed to target allergens found in daily life like house dust mites, dog and cat allergens, pollens, live mites, bacteria and fungus. The 99.9 hygienic, antiallergic BabyProtect+ program is tested by Allergy UK.

Beko washing machines are so easy to use with their large LCD display. To start, one puts presorted clothes inside the drum, adds detergent and softener, and pushes the “on” button. Next, turn the dial clockwise to the chosen program—there are up to 16 to choose from, including Hygiene+, Anti-allergy and Intensive—then press “start” and the machine will take care of the rest.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend using the warmest appropriate setting for washing clothing, towels and bedding, and drying items fully at a high temperature. The New York Times article shared additional tips:

• Don’t shake out your laundry, ever, because it could disperse virus through the air.
• When you’re done, clean and disinfect your laundry hampers, baskets and bags. Lining your hamper with a washable or disposable bag, if you have one, is a good idea.
• Keeping one bag for dirty clothing and one for clean clothing is another good practice. You can also use disposable plastic bags to carry your clothing.

Beko is the global home appliances brand of the Arçelik Group and belongs to the Koç Holding, one of the largest conglomerates in Europe. The brand has been in the Philippine market for five years and established its own subsidiary, Beko Pilipinas Corp.

Beko products are available in select All Home, Asian Home, Robinsons Appliances Stores and SM Appliance Centers. Visitbeko.ph; follow @bekoph on Facebook and Instagram.