14 Apr If You Must Visit a Store: Safety Advice + How Best to Clean Groceries!
Our friend Donna Burd Fernald curated the following story by Sumathi Reddy from The Wall Street Journal. The subtitle: Deliveries are safer during the coronavirus pandemic, but sometimes a store visit is unavoidable. The story features precautions to take.
Note: For the record, Donna is one of Telluride’s community heroes. Scroll down to learn more about her work.
With communities across the country virtually shut down, there is still one place nearly everyone needs to visit at some point: the grocery store. Experts say deliveries are safer, but sometimes it can be hard to get one scheduled right away. So if you must go to the store, what’s the best way to navigate the aisles and crowds? Information and guidance about the virus is changing quickly, so we asked the experts.
Is it safe to go to the grocery store?
Try to minimize visits to the store. “The biggest risk factor is really being around other people,” says Benjamin Chapman, a professor of food safety at North Carolina State University.
That’s because the novel coronavirus is spread largely through droplets from nearby people coughing or sneezing. If you must go, maintain a buffer around yourself and try to go at off-hours. (The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a 6-foot buffer, while the World Health Organization says 3 feet will suffice).
It’s hard to maintain a distance from cashiers, so use self-checkout when possible and use hand sanitizer when you’re done.
Should I wear a mask or gloves to the grocery store?…
And now, as a complement to the narrative above, check out this story from EcoWatch titled “Here’s How to Clean Your Groceries During the COVID-19 Outbreak.”
How Big of a Risk Are Groceries?
Charlotte Baker, DrPH, MPH, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine in Blacksburg, Virginia, said your biggest risk at the supermarket is coming into close contact with another person who’s sick.
That’s why it’s important to stay at least 6 feet from other people at all times.
“Do not be afraid to ask others to step back if they are too close to you in line,” said Baker. “Or wait a few moments to grab something if others are already by the item you want.”
It’s not clear, though, how much of a role produce and food packaging plays in transmitting the virus that causes COVID-19.
Still, the World Health Organization says that in addition to close person-to-person contact, people can pick up the virus by touching contaminated surfaces and then touching their eyes, nose, or mouth.
Some surfaces may pose a bigger risk than others.
A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that the virus was detectable on plastic and stainless steel for up to 72 hours, and on cardboard for up to 24 hours.
Baker said when you’re at the supermarket, you should “assume all surfaces everywhere have been touched by someone who is sick.”
This includes produce and packaged foods.
“Touch just the items you intend to buy, wipe down the cart or basket handles with disinfectant wipes, and wash your hands or use hand sanitizer when you’re done,” she said.
Baker added that many people are also reducing their potential exposure by using curbside pick-up or at-home delivery. Even local food producers are offering these services.
“Some farmers markets are allowing customers to preorder foods so they are already packaged when you come pick them up,” she said, “reducing the amount of time that you need to be near other people and reducing the amount of items that you can touch.”
Cleaning Your Groceries at Home
Whichever way you get your groceries, you’ll want to handle them carefully when you get them home. This will reduce the chance of spreading the virus to other people or surfaces in your house.
Elizabeth L. Andress, Ph.D., a professor of foods and nutrition at the University of Georgia, said at the very least you should wash your hands after unpacking and putting away your groceries.
If you’re concerned about potential contamination on your groceries, you can take additional steps to protect yourself.
“Some people may choose to wipe or wash cans and boxes of food before storing them to reduce possible virus content,” said Andress. You can also throw out disposable packaging.
When you’re done, she suggests that you wash any tables, countertops, or other surfaces that were touched by your groceries or grocery bags.
And wash your hands again.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offers advice for cleaning and disinfecting your home during the pandemic, including which cleaners work best against SARS-CoV-2.
If you’re using cloth bags, wash them with laundry soap in a washing machine and dry them thoroughly before reusing them.
Cleaning Food Like a Surgeon
If you or someone in your household is at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19, you might want to adopt the modified “sterile technique” recommended by Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen, a family physician practicing in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in this YouTube video.
VanWingen said that one option is to leave your groceries in your garage or porch for at least 72 hours to allow the virus to become inactive…
Continue read this story here.
Donna Burd Fernald, more:
Over 42 years in the Telluride community, Donna Burd Fernald has worked as a real estate broker and nurse – with an emphasis on the latter of late. In the Age of Corona, she is working as a home health/palliative care nurse, bringing her expertise to caring for those too fragile to enter into the existing Covid-19-infused environment.
Further, to prepare for the challenges brought about by end-of-life issues, join Donna at one of her “Death Cafes” or come to the next short seminar of “Practicalities of Death – because no one gets out of here alive.”
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