New book brought into the house

[CurtainWitcher]

Book delivered by Amazon. I put the packaging straight in the recycling, but brought the book straight into the house. It's now on the coffee table.
DH said I should have put it in the garage for 72 hours. Should i?

Paper = 24hrs - how long was it in the package - no one touched it while in there, remove packaging and isolate packaging or dispose. Paper iso = 24 hrs and plastic 72

Book hasn't been handled since picked in warehouse. Therefore as safe as its getting

If you are working in a school then yes you are at high risk and so are the keyworker children both in school and at home.

Fabric is 24hrs as well or hot wash

Burn it. Immediately

Very very unlikely the virus wouldve survived the day or so that book has been inside that packaging... the packaging itself could have the virus on if it's been handled by someone who has it... but the book will have been inside the packaging probably over 24hrs if its normal post... very very unlikely it would still have virus on even if the person who wrapped it up and touched it last had the virus.... personally I dont bother.. just put the packaging straight in the bin then thoroughly wash your hands

@r868 where do you get these figures from?

Also if you are about to post "burn it" or " bathe yourself in bleach" don't bother, it's been done.

It will have been inside the packaging 24 hours so a day or two should be fine

I work in a shop. Do you imagine that we are quarantining stuff that comes off delivery? No, it goes right out there onto the shelf. Which means, by rights, that all of us should have COVID now, but we don't (as yet, hopefully won't). We handle stuff that's been handled by people all day when we put stuff outdated off the shelf and into waste.

I think some people have lost all sense of perspective completely in their panic not to 'catch the virus'. Be sensible, observe normal hygiene procedures and don't panic.

If you are working in a school then yes you are at high risk and so are the keyworker children both in school and at home.

'The powers that be' have decided that is an acceptable level of risk to put us at, otherwise schools would not be open at all, so as the risk of me catching it from my shopping must be much lower, why would I need to clean everything with bleach.

@Frozenfan2019
15-20% of people who contract covid-19 are hospitalised.

That's bollocks. The Imperial College study said 3.2% of 30-39 year olds would need hospital treatment 4.9% of 40-49 year olds 10.2% of 50-59 year olds going up to 27.3% of 80+ year olds as you would expect.
I hate bandying about statistics because generally it's just a guess but your numbers are just scaremongering.
Also, in Iceland where 10% of the population have been tested, the death rate was only 0.4%. Germany's death rate (also high rate of testing ) is also fairly low.
Everyone has their own risk tolerance. Do whatever you feel like. You would be very unlucky to die from this.

Surely items from Amazon are packed by machine?

Having watched my best friend through our teenage years being consumed by OCD rituals, I'm really not going to go down the route of developing rituals to try to eradicate miniscule risks.

I had an Amazon delivery a couple of days ago. I took the outer cardboard off and straight in the recycling box then washed my hands. Sorted.

Despite living in an early hotspot, I seem to have survived the week of panic buying prior to social distancing, including extra trips to town in case of lockdown (DS was pleased to have birthday presents). I still have to do food shopping weekly. I strategically choose quiet, easy places to social distance in for exercise. I follow the government guidelines. Is there still a risk? Yes. But there's no point in screwing up my mental health in the vain hope of trying to eliminate the risk of catching it. The rest is up to chance.

Surely items from Amazon are packed by machine?

But we don't know where these machines have been. Anyone could have touched them I tell you, anyone! For all we know, robots could be the worst carriers of all! Best just burn everything down.

It must be all terribly stressful all this quarantining and disinfecting of stuff, it’s not like it’s just for a couple of weeks.

'I think some people have lost all sense of perspective completely in their panic not to 'catch the virus'. Be sensible, observe normal hygiene procedures and don't panic.'

This. And (I'm sure someone will have said this and I've missed it) evidence of the virus surviving on a surface by no means necessarily translates into a person being able to become infected via that surface.

What if a spider licks it while it's in the garage

@RainbowBabyDreams , rats and mice pee too

To be honest, there's been so much conflicting information about how long the virus lives on various surfaces that I don't feel at all confident about it and would rather err on the side of caution.

We're doing a combination of quarantining items and cleaning them, depending on what they are and urgently we want or need them. It makes me feel a bit safer, and it doesn't hurt anyone. I don't see why anyone else should care or feel the need to spew venom if other people do this.

We may not be waiting for a vaccine, but we're trying to avoid spreading or catching the virus for as long as possible. What's so ridiculous about taking precautions with deliveries? Do you not clean your groceries before putting them away? If you're going to take some precautions (social distancing), why stop short of considering the safety of packages delivered to your door? Don't worry about it if you don't want to, but it's not stupid to have concerns.

Please stop wiping everything with anti-bacterial wipes.

As implied in the name corona virus is, ahem, a virus.

Not bacteria.

You are, at best , just smearing the virus over a greater surface area.

Please carry on.

The virus could mutate in the garage though. Nice quiet place for it to have some mutation alone time. Just as it’s changed into another form- bam! You’ve picked it up thinking it would be safe!

YANBU. I can see why people might do that, but I know no-one that's doing that.

emmcan not exactly. Some suchnamed wipes are for viruses as well, including human Coronavirus.

This thread has me rolling in laughter!

FFS wise up you neurotic lot! Who has a virus busting garage with a stop watch? Just open the packaging, shove it in the recycling box, wipe over the book and wash your hands. Don’t forget to clean your letterbox!! If you want to go to those lengths.

Rational people will pounce on the book and read it greedily while scoffing essentially-bought crisps and quaffing essentially-bought wine.

Wash your hands regularly and avoid touching your face. Keep away from people outside your household and keep calm!

It's like living in a bad sitcom ;

2020 The Year That Brains Forgot!

I'd love to catch it off packaging but I think the chances are remote so I'll just wait to catch it at work from the patients.Trouble is that will be a hearty viral load dose rather than the miniscule dose I could theoretically get from packaging.