Let me start by saying that I’m not crazy. Many people are going full freak out and are washing produce with soap, using disinfecting sprays or wipes on groceries, and not using anything for days after it’s brought in from “the outside.” I’m not doing all of that, but I am taking precautions that I have never taken before when bringing groceries in the house. Okay, maybe I’m a little crazy. But we’re not sick (yet).
Almost all of the food that arrives at the house (more on other packages later) gets taken down to the basement immediately. It is then removed from whatever delivery packaging it came in, like Amazon Prime Now/Whole Foods paper bags and placed onto the “decontamination mat” which is a waterproof blanket we’d cover the basement bed with when Charlie (R.I.P.) stayed down there alone. Food is separated into sections for what is needed immediately in the upstairs refrigerator, what can stay in the downstairs mini refrigerator until it’s needed, and dry goods that will sit either on the decon. mat or be otherwise stored in the basement until needed. Most items needing refrigeration go in the basement fridge by default, to “decontaminate” though I’m not entirely convinced the refrigerator doesn’t work to preserve virus particles like it does fresh food.
We try to use recently acquired items as little as possible (preferably not at all) for a few days after arrival. I don’t believe that this is necessary at all. There’s been no evidence of infection from particles brought into the home from food or packaging. This is a low impact process that doesn’t deprive us of anything beyond dehydrated hands from the increase in hand washing (that we should be doing frequently anyway). There’s only a possible benefit of letting the virus, that may or may not be present, die off over a couple of days on things that we don’t need straight away.
Some say that the virus can live for a number of days depending on the material it is present on (plastics, specifically), but I don’t buy it. These assumptions are based on laboratory tests done in settings ripe for viral longevity and don’t taken into account movement during transport, air disturbing or removing particles, climate changes that could affect the virus, and the effective viral load that could be transmitted from these volatile surfaces and conditions. Plus someone that is actively infected must have delivered the virus to these things in the first place, most effectively by coughing or sneezing on them. Being scared of these very unlikely scenarios is a level I can’t let myself get to. It’s hard enough to function as-is. It would be impossible if we went further down the hole.
But still, we take these precautions. They don’t cost anything beyond a little extra time (an admittedly extremely valuable commodity right now) and some extra hand washing. Worth it.
Other items from “the outside” get slightly different treatment depending on what they are. Packages that arrive get brought inside and left in the entryway until needed. We’ve had upwards of ten packages sitting there at a time, waiting for some “feeling” that they’re properly “decontaminated” to arrive. Others get opened immediately, often while wearing gloves, and the contents brought out into the home for use. This most commonly happens with children’s toys or some new piece of technology that I bought for myself. It almost never happens for things purchased from Amazon because they arrive too quickly to be within our completely arbitrary feeling of having been in transit long enough to have prevented any viral particles from surviving inside the package. The exception is when I know there’s another small package inside that actually contains what I want (like a retail box) that can be opened immediately since whatever is inside was surely packaged weeks or months ago.
The fact that these timelines are completely arbitrary means that I don’t really believe it matters much but also that it makes me feel better. Not a lot makes me feel better right now so I’ll take what I can get – especially if it’s easy.
So that’s what we do. You do you. I may judge you (and you may judge me) but as long as we’re not sick or completely freaking out let’s count it as a win.
Michael Singletary 