Covid19 Avoidance Techniques

unrecordings

As promised yesterday, the prepping thread is getting a bit swamped I thought a new specific thread might be in order for those of us who might need to self isolate, but keep getting thwarted, and need to confront the outside world. I'm looking for answers rather than chat and references for any scientific or medical advice given. This thread may take the form of questions, rhetorical or otherwise.
I'll start: What is the survival time of Covid 19 on various surfaces and how can we run down the clock to reduce that time ? Heat? For example IF i get a bag of salad from the supermarket, using the wash your hands with soap & water precedent, then can it be assumed that you can wash the bag carefully in the kitchen sink with soap & cold water ?
Same with anything else sealed like crisps, fresh pasta ?
In terms of lifespan this is the only thing I've found so far:
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-long-can-coronavirus-live-on-surfaces-how-to-disinfect-2020-3?r=US&IR=T
I notice the BBC has started a Q&A today too, but I seem to have misplaced the page

Zentimes

Thanks for the thread, unrecordings. Honestly I am hazy on what the survival time is for coronavirus on a surface. Might depend on the nature of the surface, temperature etc? With respect to how to deal with shopping, or mail, this is my strategy so far (and would welcome tweaks to it).

For post, I pick it up with bare hands (skin is after all protective) and open the letter, then tip out the contents if possible without touching them. The letter envelope then goes directly into the recycling bin. If it's a package, I will open it and dump out the contents, then again place the cardboard into recycling. After that I will thoroughly wash my hands.

For supermarket stuff (I have home deliveries) I figure it's pointless trying to disinfect all the packaging. So I place the items in the fridge as normal and thoroughly wash my hands, having stowed the bags for return at the next delivery. Then when I need an item from the fridge, take it out, discard packaging if not unwrapped and then wash hands thoroughly before prepping meal. In summary, no I don't wash the packaging (some has holes in it for air circulation anyway).

Edit: Oh and I should add I then wipe down the surface everything's been on with disinfectant.

welshbabe88

Yes pretty much do what Zentimes does.  I have some anti bac wipes in kitchen for quickly doing door handles taps etc.

Zentimes

Although... now I've just had a long discussion about this with DP. He reckons it would be better to disinfect/wash every item delivered so that when it goes in the fridge/on the shelf we know it's ok. But I said, you can't wash egg cartons or other cardboard containers. My strategy is to assume everything's infected and our best protection is hand washing after handling any food items and again before eating. It really is a minefield, and it does depend on virus 'shelf life', too.

Molly41

My DD has to deep clean all the boxes that come with your home shopping in so the supermarkets are taking precautions.

pineapple

Thanks for this thread. I've seen massively different times quoted for virus survival on surfaces - same goes for in the air! I'll post any credible references that I find.  Have to say I started out washing packaging and gave up. I don't have a ready supply of hot water anyway and cold water sparks off my Raynauds. So for the moment I'm going with putting all my shopping away in one go then washing my hands and washing my hands again when it gets opened.

Zentimes

Molly41 said:

My DD has to deep clean all the boxes that come with your home shopping in so the supermarkets are taking precautions.

That's good to know, Molly, thanks.

MoneySeeker1

A few websites people might be interested in:

www.theviruswatch.com

www.coronavirus.jhu.edu

www.stephenharrodbuhner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/coronavirus.txt.pdf 
(ie a well-respected herbalist internationally)

nursemolly

Re : possible school closures.....they say children are the lowest at risk from covid-19..but possibly the highest spreaders of the virus....so if schools close, children are obviously going to be out (they just wont stay indoors) and about..playparks, shopping centres etc where they have a higher chance of spreading it...can someone shed some light on this please..
tia

unrecordings

MoneySeeker1 said:

www.stephenharrodbuhner.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/coronavirus.txt.pdf 
(ie a well-respected herbalist internationally)

A bit of an oxymoron if you sk me - within the context of the thread - I was hoping there was some precise science from the likes of WHO / CDC / NHS
Thanks for the links though gives food for thought - just back from supermarket still not had breakfast

tboo

An expert on the BBC this morning said they don't anticipate in closing schools down at the moment - as the knock on effect is that parents, who may be carer workers, nurses, doctors, delivery drivers etc will have to leave work to care for said children, and this leads to break down in the above professions and so on .

The expert said this is what happened when schools were closed in the foot and mouth days

Another expert said just wash hands and try not to touch your face afterwards