Does a Trip to the Grocery Store Have to Be an Adventure?
For many of us, depending on the area we live in, going grocery-shopping it’s a reason to be worried.
Coming in contact with possible Covid infected people or asymptomatic carriers, the fear of the unknown, the possibility one can get really sick even if not old or with underlying health conditions, the awareness that there is not a clearly established sequence of treatment in case we do get sick, well, all these factors make us wary about coming in contact with people we don’t know.
We learned that Covid-19 lasts in the air about 3 hours from droplets and about 15-30 min when derived from aerosols. Afterwards, it lands on surfaces and researchers established it lasts on them for different intervals. The longer it stays on surfaces, the less viable it become. Here are some examples, but keep in mind these numbers are somewhat of an approximation, just to give an idea:
- plastic, stainless steel, glass—3-4 days
- paper—3 hrs
- paper money—3 days
- cardboard boxes—1 day
- fabrics—2 days
- wood—4 days
Armed with these details, I embark on my quest to the grocery store and follow my new, Covid-dictated routine. I put on my mask before getting out of the car and the gloves before I grab the shopping cart. I do have a few pairs of disposable nitrile gloves with me because I change them a few times. I prefer a cross-body bag that I can keep in front and doesn’t slide off my shoulder.
I don’t take my phone out for any texts or calls. I purchase everything I need on my paper-made list, or almost everything, and head to the cashier, unload my stuff on the belt and put all the bags back in my cart after she’s done. I remove the first pair of gloves, take out the wallet and pay, put on new gloves, and then head over to my car.
After I put all the bags in the trunk, I take the second pair of gloves off and spray my own the sanitizer on the hands, rubbing them for a good couple of seconds. I take my mask off by the ear loops and spray my hands with sanitizer agin. The mask goes on top of my dashboard in full sun; this will help kill any trapped virus particles, in case I need to reuse it the same day.
When I get home, I unload the bags, bring them in the kitchen and wash my hands really well, for 20 sec. Afterwards, I put the groceries away in the fridge or pantry, and wash my hands very well again. After I put everything away, I wash my hands thoroughly once more. Everyone who may be available to help unloading the groceries, has to go through the same moves as far as hands washing. Now I sit down and take a deep breath, while trying to think of something nice.
At the height of the pandemic in our area, I was doing a few other things in addition. Each plastic or glass container purchased, I sprayed with peroxide or alcohol and wipe off. For the boxes with berries (that have holes), I sprayed the disinfectant on the paper towel and wipe the plastic box. This way, none of the disinfectant reached the fruit through those holes.
I also admit, when we didn’t know a lot how this virus survives on produce, I was washing the fruits and vegetables that have skin (oranges, apples, avocados, bananas, even peaches—right before consuming them), with the same organic soap bar (Dr Bronner’s) I use for hands. Needles to say, this was followed by rinsing them thoroughly with warm water. I NEVER used alcohol or peroxide on them, and as far as bleach, that’d didn’t even cross my mind. I didn’t have it in the house anyway for over 15 years, if not longer.
Fresh vegetables (without skin), such as salads, broccoli, Brussel sprouts, and so on, I only ran under hot water right before using. It is noted by the scientists that is highly unlikely to get Covid-19 from fresh produce, but for a while I used additional precautions, without jeopardizing our health with harsh cleaners.
I just want now to point out a few related practical issues.
I read about a few circumstances where people knowing they tested positive for Covid, intentionally decided to cough or even spit over products in markets. Fortunately there aren’t many sickos like these, but we can unknowingly touch contaminated packages. This was the reason why I disinfected the containers. Of the groceries I bring home, many I don’t use for a few days—by then the virus wouldn’t be viable anymore. When unpacking though, it’s hard to decide what items will be used first.
The take-out containers from restaurants could theoretically be contaminated by the people handling them before our actual pick up. Even if unlikely, wiping these as we take them out of the bag can alleviate our worries of possible contamination. We can do the same with the packages arriving by mail, just in case they could have had viral particles landed on them shortly before being delivered by someone who was getting sick. Since the virus doesn’t survive on cardboard boxes more than a day, they can probably wait to be open, unless something needed right away has arrived.
Should we be worried about other people that inadvertently come close to us while we’re all shopping? I don’t think so, especially if wearing masks properly. We should be ok to pass by someone within a few feet from us. It is true that the virus from aerosols can float in the air anywhere in between 15 to 30 min, but to catch it from aerosols, one has to be very close and exactly at the time that particular person exhales the particles during breathing, talking, and probably even laughing while indoors (without a mask). If not very close to such a person, the virus concentration dilutes in the ambient air, while outside the virus gets diluted further more.
I used to think that the possibility of catching this from aerosols is similar to sensing someone’s perfume or aftershave, one needs to be really close. A researcher (Dr. Marr from Virginia Tech), used an even better comparison to illustrate this: Just like a foggy breath on a cold day, someone has to be close to the person breathing out (exhaling) and as soon as it happens in order to catch it.
Of course, our trips to the stores have a different routine and a different feel, but shouldn’t worry us too much if we follow the same simple advice. By wearing a mask properly, washing our hands many times until we’re done, and making an effort to not touch our face we have a good chance to not catch this disease.
