Corona OCD

[Septembersrain]

No. However, I do open packages in the garage. I also do not put the shopping bags on the counters or other frequently touched surfaces. Washing my hands after each task but also bleaching door knobs.

I do wash my produce items.

I'm OCD with anxiety, so I clean my place pretty vigorously but that was happening before the virus. It's only intensified now that I'm more stressed. It's exhausting at times.

 

[44267547]

FEAR is the enemy. I have not wiped groceries down one time. No mask, no gloves, and don't wipe down the grocery cart. Immunity only comes by exposure... and personally, I think the whole thing is grossly overblown.

For example, if social distancing is the only solution, and staying separated from the rest of society is the solution, why aren't the homeless dying by the hundreds across this country? When and where do they wash their hands?

I guess, overall, I'm a skeptic.

You definitely make some valid points, and sometimes we need to have opposing views like yours to show that ‘you can survive’ without going to extremes like others do. But in that same regard, maybe where you live (I believe you mentioned Arizona), isn’t necessarily as worse in some areas as it is in others. But regardless, I’d say you’re at a higher risk of putting yourself in extreme vulnerable situations, but that’s just my take on this, Which if you’re OK with that, then good luck to you.

 

[compwiz1202]

We __finally__ got ApplePay at our grocery store (Publix), I was pretty excited, especially with it being contactless, even the signs up say no contact ...


... ugh, for some reason their implementation still requires the PIN for the chargecard associated with the account, i.e., what's the point (other than one less thing to touch I guess ...)

I wonder, if it was a CC vs. a check card, if it wouldn't require the PIN[?]

If it lets you pick CC, it shouldn't ask for a PIN, but it never seems consistent. If I use AP for debit, I can get different results:

1. It asks credit or debit first, and if credit, it just goes through, and if debit, it asks for PIN and then about cash back (the way it should be)
2. It asks for the PIN first, and then Credit or Debit (dumb)
3. It just runs as credit (also dumb, especially if I wanted cash back) Those places I need to remember to use the actual card if I want cash back.

 

[hallux]

3. It just runs as credit (also dumb, especially if I wanted cash back) Those places I need to remember to use the actual card if I want cash back.

Interesting - when I use Android Pay and choose my Discover card I'm generally asked if I want cash back when I'm dealing with a cashier. If I'm at a self-checkout I don't think I'm asked, though I might be but it's been a month since I used that card due to another getting more points at grocery stores for the quarter.

 

[cdcastillo]

Just curious how many of you are going down the route of wiping down all your groceries before you put them away?

I've been doing it but loads of peeps I know aren't! just wondering what peeps on here are doing?

Always, not one thing enters the house without wiping it with a chloride solution. There is no way in earth to always disinfect everything, but besides frequently washing your hands with soap and water, the wiping of groceries is a basic tenant of hygiene in times of the pandemic.

 

[compwiz1202]

Interesting - when I use Android Pay and choose my Discover card I'm generally asked if I want cash back when I'm dealing with a cashier. If I'm at a self-checkout I don't think I'm asked, though I might be but it's been a month since I used that card due to another getting more points at grocery stores for the quarter.

Just used my debit through AP with a cashier the other day and it just went right through as credit. She said it used to ask for the PIN and cash back. It will do that if I remember to use the actual card.

 

[hallux]

Just used my debit through AP with a cashier the other day and it just went right through as credit. She said it used to ask for the PIN and cash back. It will do that if I remember to use the actual card.

Debit is one thing. Discover allows you to get cash back at the register when you use the card, through a prompt on the screen. I never do it, but it's an option.

 

[Ambrosia7177]

I wash my fruit with a dash of soap and hot water before I eat it.

Other than that, not too worried - especially since I don't really eat packaged food.


How Safe Is It To Eat Takeout?

The coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is primarily spread via droplets expelled through coughing or sneezing, says William Schaffner...

All this means that transmission via food is incredibly unlikely, say both professors Schaffner — unless you actually inhaled your food. "Even in the so unlikely scenario of virus through a sneeze or cough coming into contact with, say, a salad, that would enter the body through the throat," William Schaffner says.

William Schaffner explains that the virus is primarily risky to us when it attaches to surfaces in our respiratory tract, not when we accidentally eat it. "The virus seems to be latching onto cells in the upper reaches of the nose, a place food doesn't enter," he explains. "Virus that found its way into your gastrointestinal tract would be killed by the acid in your stomach."

 

[statik13]

This reminds me, I need to look into whether the freezing/chilling process kills viruses.

Only wondering because I seem to recall that samples being sent for tests are refrigerated to preserve them, so thinking frozen/chilled items might harbour the virus for longer…

Not enough research to know yet. Some experts think up to two years

How long can coronavirus survive in your freezer?

Scientists are racing to discover the survival rate of the deadly coronavirus.

www.nzherald.co.nz

 

[LizKat]

I leave any delivered parcels that don't contain perishable goods out on the enclosed back porch until around suppertime usually. Then open them out there, bring the stuff into the house and stick it in the back room for a few days before putting away where it belongs. Break down the packaging the next day and put it with the other recylables out there. Wash hands after handling the boxes.

For Instacart grocery deliveries, I fish out the perishable stuff and bring that in the house, wipe plastic containers down and put them away, leave the staple goods outside for awhile, bring them into the back room by nightfall, then into cupboards after they've sat there a few days.

I don't actually worry about the fresh produce, just clean it the way I always have done and I'm pretty fussy about that. I do avoid grapes and berries now. If I were going to cook them up, say strawberries, I'd get them, but I usually have those fresh as dessert... so I'm just skipping those and sticking to apples, oranges, kiwis. I get fresh broccoli /cauliflower florets when I can, but I eat them cooked, not raw so that's a departure from options I've exercised in the past. Only raw veggies I eat now are carrrots, peppers (quick plunge in soapy water, then vinegar rinsed and washed before cutting), cabbage (outer layers peeled away) and celery that's been trimmed, vinegar-bathed and rinsed.

 

[44267547]

I just been leaving anything that’s been shipped my address in the garage for about a week. Anything from shoes, car parts, ect. and really by that method, is I don’t have to use my resources in terms of wipes/sprays to clean anything, when I can use those items for other sanitizing needs.

I’ve always been systematic, but more than anything, it’s about just ‘creating a routine‘ that you follow for whatever works for you. Health has always been a priority for me, I’m not about to slip up and risk being lackadaisical by not wearing a mask when necessary or touching my face. It’s all common sense things, it’s just a matter if you choose to take the necessary precautions For your own well being.

 

[The-Real-Deal82]

Just curious how many of you are going down the route of wiping down all your groceries before you put them away?

I've been doing it but loads of peeps I know aren't! just wondering what peeps on here are doing?

It’s the standard advice given to do this and pretty much everybody I know including us wipes down all the groceries. We get home delivery and wipe everything down in the garage before taking it into the house. We remove packaging where we can too. I don’t think this is OCD, it’s protecting us from the only real process that threatens our health while isolating at home.

 

[Plutonius]

Just curious how many of you are going down the route of wiping down all your groceries before you put them away?

I've been doing it but loads of peeps I know aren't! just wondering what peeps on here are doing?

I don't do it.

I wonder when people are going to start washing their US mail down when opening .

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FEAR is the enemy.

I have to agree.
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I do wash my produce items.

That is always good practice but it is usually done to remove any insecticides.

 

[mollyc]

I wonder when people are going to start washing their US mail down when opening .

I know people (personally) who are leaving their mail in the box overnight or transfering it to their garage for a day or two before opening it.

 

[Plutonius]

I leave any delivered parcels that don't contain perishable goods out on the enclosed back porch until around suppertime usually.

That might work during the summer when it's hot out.

Viruses like cold and it's doubtful that leaving a package outside for awhile will do anything. I think that you would be much better of leaving the non-perishable items in a running car for awhile with the heater on max.
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I know people (personally) who are leaving their mail in the box overnight or transfering it to their garage for a day or two before opening it.

The same applies as in my above comment on packages.

Viruses like cold and leaving the mail out in the cold for awhile will most likely do nothing.

 

[LizKat]

That might work during the summer when it's hot out.

Viruses like cold and it's doubtful that leaving a package outside for awhile will do anything. I think that you would be much better of leaving the non-perishable items in a running car for awhile with the heater on max

LOL! Last time my car had a heater on at all was the day before it blew a head gasket, the useless thing.

I don't really worry about it. The UPS/FedEx guy drops stuff off and I uncrate it out there before nightfall and bring contents into the house to store in the back room. Whatever it is, it has been in the box for a few days anyway during shipment, and the outer packaging stays out there in a corner of the deck with other recylcables. Not much is really different from before except I do wash my hands more conscientiously than I probably used to do after unboxing the stuff.

 

[44267547]

For those who (I’m Not necessarily indicating any members in this thread) believe gloves actually have some type of positive impact worn by postal carriers When delivering the mail............ It does absolutely nothing to stop/slow the spread of C/19. The only reason why the Postal Service wears gloves is to protect themselves (Plus, they’ve altered their policy/procedures to make it standard for carriers to wear gloves), but wearing gloves touching thousands of pieces of mail all day long does nothing but promote the spread of C/19. You’d actually have to change your gloves every single time you touch a piece of mail in order to even make an impact, which just isn’t sensible, nor cost effective.

So here’s what I do with my mail, It gets opened in my garage, I dispose of any junk mail and keep pertinent mail, bring in the house (Without touching any high traffic spots until I wash my hands) and put it in the file separator on my desk, then I wash my hands there-after. There’s no need to leave your mail out in the garage for a freakin week, especially when the majority probably have to open their mail daily for invoices, other sensitive items.

However, as noted, I treat packages a little bit differently, especially if I don’t have to open them right away, but mail does take a different priority for XYZ reasons.

Side observation:

As much as I appreciate UPS, I was actually shocked to see a local driver the other day at a stoplight, constantly touching his face/nose in the delivery truck, especially given the amount of items they come in contact with. That’s just bad form right there. I happen to be very observant by profession/nature, but come on, you have to be a bit smarter than that. There are just some things you can’t train people to do, no matter how many ‘warning signs‘ are right in front of your face.