Cleaning for Guests
Q. When you have a guest coming over, do you do any of the following to clean your home for them?
71% Clean surfaces visible to guests
64% Empty trash
57% Use a fragrance to make the space smell nice (e.g., use an air freshener, light a scented candle)
44% Disinfect high-touch objects (light switches, doorknobs)
34% Shove items into a closet or spare room
34% Clean surfaces not visible to guests
22% Other cleaning
9% I don't do anything to clean for guests
Cleaning for Cold and Flu Season
Q. Thinking of the past year, during which seasons, if any, did you deep clean your home?
Multi-Response Question
28% Fall
27% Winter
58% Spring
32% Summer
17% said their home hasn't been deep cleaned in the past year
Q. During cold and flu season, when, if at all, do you typically change your cleaning habits (i.e. clean more thoroughly or frequently?
Multi-Response Question
29% said they only change their cleaning habits if they are sick or if someone else in the home is sick
27% said they only change their cleaning habits if guests are coming over
17% said they only change their cleaning habits if there is an uptick in illness numbers
3% said other
22% said they preemptively change their cleaning habits for the whole season
28% said they don't change their cleaning habits
QuickFacts*
79% of participants don't preemptively change their cleaning habits for cold & flu season
49% of participants only change their cleaning habits reactively
72% of participants change their cleaning habits during cold and flu season
Q. Do you do any of the following common behaviors when you're sick with the cold or flu?
Multi-Response Question
22% said they continue whatever they're doing after coughing or sneezing into their hands, rather than washing or sanitizing their hands right away
21% said they cough or sneeze into the air
19% said they keep using the same bedsheets without washing them after recovering from being sick
19% said they wipe their nose on their clothes
18% said they leave shared surfaces they've touched without disinfecting them
14% said they leave used tissues lying around
54% said they do not do any of these behaviors
Q. Which of the following items in your home do you find yourself forgetting to clean?
Multi-Response Question
45% forget to clean light Switches
39% forget to clean doorknobs
39% forget to clean vents/air registers
38% forget to clean baseboards
28% forget to clean refrigerator shelves
17% forget to clean their bedspread/comforter
17% forget to clean their couch blanket
19% said they do not forget to clean any of these items
*Data under "QuickFacts" were derived from the question responses and were not included as initial response options during survey fielding.
About the Survey
The ACI Cold & Flu Survey was conducted by Wakefield Research (www.wakefieldresearch.com) among 1,000 nationally representative U.S. adults ages 18+, between August 26th and September 2nd, 2025, using an email invitation and an online survey. The data has been weighted to ensure an accurate representation of nationally representative U.S. adults ages 18+.
Results of any sample are subject to sampling variation. The magnitude of the variation is measurable and is affected by the number of interviews and the level of the percentages expressing the results. For the interviews conducted in this particular study, the chances are 95 in 100 that a survey result does not vary, plus or minus, by more than 3.1 percentage points from the result that would be obtained if interviews had been conducted with all persons in the universe represented by the sample.