To let you know how to wear gloves safely in a supermarket?

[Isla727]

I have read some people saying that it felt a bit pointless to be wearing gloves in the supermarket, which touch the trolley then the food items, then the checkout desk etc. This is obviously a real concern because you could spread Coronavirus from the trolley to your food, then from checkout area to your food etc.

One option is to just use hand gel or wipes instead of gloves if you have them but here is a safe method if you are going to wear disposable gloves:

1. Take three disposable gloves with you.
2. Use glove no.1 to wipe the trolley clean then take it off as it may be contaminated with Covid-19 (it may not be!) from the trolley.
3. Put glove no.2 on your dominant hand to push the trolley.
4. Use your non-dominant bare hand to pick up food items (this avoids spreading germs from the trolley-glove to the food)
5. At the checkout; remove your 'trolley glove'; apply hand gel or use a wipe then pack your bags.
6. Then put glove no. 3 on to pay (as card machine may be contaminated) and to push the trolley one handed. At the car, take off your final glove.
7. Apply hand gel or wipes after putting bags in the car.

A complicated system like this is far more likely to see you spreading stuff around than just wearing no gloves and washing your hands!

If you really want to wear gloves, you need only one. That one glove goes on your one "dirty" hand. Your other hand remains "clean". The "dirty" hand touches anything which may have been touched and contaminated by others whilst your "clean" hand does everything else. So glove on. Clean the trolley with that hand. Push the trolley with two hands but keep them at opposite ends of the handle. Pick up food items with your "dirty" (gloved) hand. Only touch your phone, card, keys etc with your clean hand. (Personally I scan with my phone so I don't need to use a checkout at all, so phone would be in clean hand). "Clean" hand is also used for the handles of carrier bags whilst "dirty" hand puts food inside. For any of this to make sense you then need to be thoroughly cleaning the shopping and the bags etc once you get it home though.

But really... just don't touch your face, don't take unnecessary stuff with you (so you're not rummaging in a bag for things) and wash your hands when you are done.

You aren't so much being unreasonable as being patronising.

No, nobody cares about single use plastics when there are GERMS to fret about.

I'm making my weekly supermarket trip tomorrow. I'll use the squirt cleaner and paper towels to wipe the trolley handle. Wash my hands when I get home.

No masks, no gloves. Risk is minimal, imho

Shopping items are not "absolutely covered in covid". Seriously threads like this are feeding OCD and health anxiety and other disorders along those lines. You don't have to be that careful. The amount of random virus shedding off random people is likely to be miniscule, unless someone has directly coughed or sneezed on the item, which seems extremely unlikely. And even if somebody has directly coughed or sneezed on an item, the amount of time you're touching it is not likely to transfer a significant amount of virus to your system. Of course, if you're planning to eat it (maybe loose fruit for example), it's worth washing it. And if you're talking about something like the trolley handle, many more healthy people than sick people have touched the handle, disturbing any virus particles which might be on there - it's not going to be a good vector, in short. It's not impossible to catch a virus in this way, it's just not especially likely, and it's definitely not necessary to go wiping things down constantly and being afraid of coming into contact with it directly on your skin.

Your immune system, assuming you're normally healthy, can deal with coming into contact with small amounts of virus. You deal with that kind of exposure to virus particles every day, and you don't get ill every time you visit a supermarket, probably just once or twice a year. People who are immune suppressed might not be able to cope with lesser virus exposure, but they most likely have their own sensible precautions to take because they also need this kind of protection from ordinary cold and flu and stomach viruses.

@Bulbtherapy - yes that would work obviously. This was just for people who are going to wear gloves anyway- it's worse to wear them and then be less careful because of it.

I’m just washing my hands as soon as I get in the house!! And try not to touch my face.

Also I can’t believe the amount of wipes I’m seeing when I walk the dog, they are just being dropped all over the place!!

Also fed up with people putting there dog poo in a poo bag then just dumping that, I would prefer then not to bother putting in the bag , at least it will eventually disappear, but in the bloody bag will be there for years!!

I really think people think there are poo fairies collecting all the poo bags every night.

And don’t get me started on the amount of cans, bottles, and takeaway boxes thrown out of cars, because god forbid you could leave it in your car and but it in your own bin when you get home. County roads are just full of trash, in normal time I always take a bag with me and pick up glass/plastic bottles and cans on my dog walks, but because of the situation my husband won’t let me be a WOMBLE!!

Anyway Rant over!! But the way people treat our country just really upsets me, always has. And at the moment it seems even worse.

OP what a load of total shite.

Do you worry about the other 100,000 virus you breath in every day !

Fuck me. I know people aren't getting out much, but it's really time to find a hobby when you feel the need to have and share your fantasies about optimal glove use in the supermarket.

Go shopping
Don't put your hands near your face
Refrain from licking your bank card after you've paid
Go home
Wash hands.

BertieBotts - very sensible advice

I just wiped the box of grapes on the outside
I still eat the grapes without washing them ( doesn’t make sense does it )

“13. Touch your face, you deserve it. “
:)

I'm v careful about washing hands but other than fruit or veg dont clean my food. How would one bleach a loaf of bread for example?

I dont think a quick wipe would kill corona?

Why are people still wearing face masks when they've been proven to do nothing?
That's not true. They do help protect people. If everyone wore them it would reduce transmission.

@IdblowJonSnow bleaching bread would clearly be ridiculous. I boil wash it.

Put on gloves provided by supermarket
Wipe down trolley or basket with anti bac spray provided by supermarket
Do shopping
Pay by card
Load shopping into car
Take off gloves in car to dispose of responsibly
Once home wash hands
Unpack shopping - wipe packaging over with anti bac soap and out away

Air travel is a totally different issue. That's about global warming, emissions, pollution.

Single use plastics is LITTER. Can people really not see the difference? Millions of bottles which contained liquid soap. Billions of wipes. Billions of gloves. Just wash your hand and dint touch your face!

Put

How on earth do you quarantine food?!

I use my sleeves to push the trolley. I also try to keep 2m away from others.

At work, I still interact with people so I use gloves so that I have some sort of protection from other people. Still wash my hands when I take them off on break etc.

Oh and masks are only useful if you are currently infected with the big and are spluttering everywhere. And In that case, you should be nowhere near a supermarket.

My supermarkets don't have any sanitising facilities

I take a dettol (undiluted) soaked kitchen roll in a plastic bag, get out of car, put on gloves, wipe trolley down, put on gel on gloves, shop, put on gel now and again. Pay via card, put on gel, put stuff in car. Remove gloves, use gel on hands . Drive home, take shopping to back door. Wash hands. Boil kettle, drop of washing liquid and bleach in water, wipe down shopping before bringing in house. Wash hands again. Put away shopping.

How do you sanitise all food stuffs - like a bakery loaf out in the store.

All baked goods that might have been out loose and not in bags before are individually wrapped now (blue state, USA). Are you telling me you are seeing loaves that are not in bags in your local UK supermarket?

For Christ's sake, just wash your bloody hands when you get home!