Are you still wiping groceries?

[Lovely1a2b3c]

Just that! We have been wiping food shopping items as some of the family are vulnerable (not shielding) but wondering if it's time to stop?

All the posters feeling proud they’ve never washed the shopping aren’t terrified of dying of this like some of us are.

It isn't about being proud @CherryStoneTree. I do not feel the need to, you do, it makes you feel safer and therefore happier. You carry on doing you and I will carry on doing me

@JinglingHellsBells

Are other countries advising everyone to wash their shopping, then

@vanillandhoney read my post.
Yes, in China they were. Very much so.

No other country has had such fatalities as the UK so I'd rather spend 30 mins wiping packets than the rest of my days 6 ft under, thanks.

But at least you might make the record books for being on of the world's un-luckiest people if you multiply the current risk of catching it from packaging with the risk of dying it would be tiny assuming you aren't over 100 with other health problems.

No one would go out ever, not proud just not terrified of dying. Could get hit by a drunk driver more than getting covid 19. Doesnt matter if its right or wrong, carry on with what makes you feel better.

@vanillandhoney I wonder this about checkout staff not dropping like flies too.
And, I agree about environmental concerns. I was using a spray disinfectant at work for a while too which I don't normally do, and felt very aware of the danger of breathing in all the chemicals.
Decided to stick to washing my hands (with dove soap as it doesn't make them sore) and otherwise take my chances.
I hope all the excess chemicals/single use ppe has been offset by fewer cars on road and planes in the sky.

If I said I never sterilised babu bottles would people judge me?

Baby!

Yep. Takes ages but I'm not feeling that it's safe enough to stop yet.

All the people asking why wouldn't you to minimise the risk of getting it.

Life is inherently risky. It's why I have had life insurance and wills since I left home because shit happens and some people die before their time.

Getting the milk out of the fridge without first disinfecting it is very low on the risky things that I do in my life. So that's why I don't disinfect my groceries.

If packaging and surfaces are so risky
How come
a. There hasn't been an epidemic in supermarket staff
b. People like me who work in hospitals have managed not to catch it in 3 months
I'm intrigued

I had stopped bothering as cases in my area have moved from high to low but last night I was watching "Keeping Britain Fed" on BBC and they interviewed an academic from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who was quite alarming about how supermarkets could be infective places! [it is 47 mins in if you watch it on iplayer]. She said the risk from packaging is small but she quarantines dry goods for 3 days and washes down fresher goods to "dislodge organisms" and thinks we should do this, despite small risks, to get numbers right down before the risks of Winter start up again.

@time4anothername

I had stopped bothering as cases in my area have moved from high to low but last night I was watching "Keeping Britain Fed" on BBC and they interviewed an academic from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine who was quite alarming about how supermarkets could be infective places! [it is 47 mins in if you watch it on iplayer]. She said the risk from packaging is small but she quarantines dry goods for 3 days and washes down fresher goods to "dislodge organisms" and thinks we should do this, despite small risks, to get numbers right down before the risks of Winter start up again.

But it seems to be theoretical risk doesn't it? In practice, has there been an outbreak in supermarkets? No there hasn't.

She said the risk from packaging was small

Did she quote any actual figures ? Because my idea of small and your idea of small and her idea of small could be completely different.

Just out of curiosity I completed one of those covid risk calculators, it estimates that I have a 75% chance of catching it , probably because I am a health worker and I have been in contact with covid positive people, my risk of dying is 0.28%, which is classed as medium risk.

It didn't ask any questions relating to washing packaging or food.

I have just done that test and it says i have 37% chance of getting it, work in care.

@WwMILd I'm pregnant for a second time and debating whether to bother with a steriliser

I never did. Just washed my hands thoroughly after touching any packaging.

@vodkaredbullgirl , did you put that you had been in contact with someone who has tested positive for covid ? I think that was what tipped me up to the higher %.

Not had any contact with anyone who was tested positive. We locked down way before we were told to.

We quarantine everything that comes into the house... leave parcels in the hall for a bit, and groceries in the garage. And we have a spare fridge out there too.

Better safe than sorry

Just out of interest , how many people on here who are washing their shopping/parcels are working outside the home and have been through out the pandemic ?

We have a system and it’s no faff. After I get home from click and collect, all fridge items go in the sink, wash like I’m washing up, DH notes all the meat use by dates on the magnetic pad for the fridge door as he dries and puts them away.

I don’t think this sounds like faff It sounds quite sensible tbh.

My friend has a premade spray that she uses at the checkout before she puts stuff in the bags. Then sprays the bags. Then spreads it all out on the lawn when she gets home. That sounds like faff. This is just a bit of washing up in comparison, most people do the same every night.

Your friend puts everything on her Ecoli infected lawn ? @SisterAgatha

But it seems to be theoretical risk doesn't it?

@HesterShaw1 You post doesn't make sense. You quote an expert saying there is a small risk, but then decide this is a theoretical risk?

A small risk might be 1:100 or 1: 1 million.

As for no outbreaks in supermarkets, how do you know? Do you have figures for absenteeism?

I cannot undersand how people think there is NO risk from plastic packets.

We have been told right at the start that the virus could live on hard surfaces like plastic for 3 days and longer. Cold dark places like a fridge actually prolong the life of the virus (heat and UV light kill it.)

So putting a packet of bacon or cheese, or chicken in your fridge without wiping the plastic is NOT a good idea. Even if YOU wash your hands, the packet will still go onto your worktop and you need to ensure no one else in your family is touching the packets or putting them down anywhere.

frumpety I wash our shopping, or leave it in the garage for a few days, but we haven’t been out anywhere really since lockdown.

We run our own business from home so apart from dh occasionally going to local farms for work, all outside and nobody around, and walking our dog we haven’t been anywhere.

Dh is clinically vulnerable due to immunosuppressant meds so trying to be as careful as possible.

And yet the Government states that post items carry no risk , goodness knows how many people have touched them.