Should we or should we not be wiping shopping??

[Jaem02]

I know the gov say it isn't necessary but lots of people are still wiping down or quarantining shopping. Should we be?

Only on mumsnet have I heard of people doing this. No-one I know in real life is.

Nope. I've got a 1 year old DD and she needs exposure to normal levels of bacteria/viral material to prepare her immune system for life as a human being - we live in groups and always will do so there will be some transmission of disease.

The people i know who wipe shopping all either:

• have mental health issues (anxiety etc)

Or

• have relatively low intellectual ability and cannot analyse understand risk.

One friend wipes shopping etc but was straight back to her hairdresser when it reopened

Nope. Never have done it and don't plan to start now.

I took the advice of a friend on this one, who is a microbiologist. If they aren't wiping shopping, then i'm not going to.

I’d love to know those who are wiping your shopping, how do you actually do it? I imagine all you are doing is wiping bacteria around, and potentially smearing things from one surface to another.

And those of you using sprays; do you not think about the long term affects of all those chemicals you are putting into the air? I’ll use an antibacterial spray after I’ve cleaned down chopping raw chicken but that’s not very often. These chemicals are not intended for heavy usage. Scalding hot water is the best antibacterial cleaner in most kitchens eg sinks, worktops etc

And those putting their food groceries into a garage - have you never heard of Weil’s disease? I’d be far more worried about that than Covid!!

Never wiped shopping

No, and IMO anyone who does should probably consider whether they need help with their mental health

I agree and tbh I'm sick of seeing this thread on here repeatedly, whipping up frenzy and the 'what if someone sneezes and then touched my milk carton' comments over and over again.

There is absolutely no scientific evidence whatsoever that washing shopping is a necessary step in preventing covid or that anyone has caught it this way. It is not recommended or advised by any infection control experts, CDC, WHO etc... and the reasons why are all readily available to read online.

The risk is negligible. People can do what they like of course but I wish they would be honest with themselves about the level of risk they are actually preventing by doing this huge waste of time.

And agree with PP, I've only ever heard of people doing this on MN. One poster on a thread said she actually puts her post in the oven for a few minutes. It's absolutely crazy and not healthy at all.

@tobee

I'm guessing it's American, I can't imagine a place of worship getting 500+. We consider 50 to be a lot (in a huge building!) pubs here are more spacious often than restaurants

Haven't ever done it

There's some awfully rude posts in this thread suggesting that those of us wiping shopping are mentally ill or of low intelligence. Very poorly done.

We all make our own risk assessments and it harms no one ( including you rude people) so please wind your necks in.

Other than reading about people doing it on MN I have not encountered anyone who has even considered doing this. I’m not sure what mechanism of infection this would prevent.

Not done it once. I'm of the belief if we're going to get it we will. It may be worse for some than others but more people will probably die from flu this winter than covid based on current rates.

We did this at first but have recently stopped as I can no longer be arsed.

This is not a very well thought through position intellectually, but I guess emotionally, during lockdown, venturing outside and bringing things inside seemed like a very risky act. Now that we are all back to work etc. it seems proportionally one of the less risky things to do.

There's some awfully rude posts in this thread suggesting that those of us wiping shopping are mentally ill or of low intelligence. Very poorly done. it’s not rude to suggest that someone who is that anxious is mentally ill or at the very least has some mental health concerns. It absolutely is not normal to live like this.

There will be people out there with OCD who live with this kind of anxiety every day and who will tell you that it’s not normal to live like this.

Nobody has ever suggested people should be wiping their shopping or quarantining their post. People who are doing so are doing so purely because of their own anxiety, no other reason, and that is why it is evident that this is an indication there are mental health issues at play.

it harms no one

I've never agreed with this argument on these threads tbh. Doing so privately in your own home, yes.

Making thread after thread about it, going on about 'what if someone did X Y or Z then touched this', acting like the actual scientific evidence is wrong, discussing all the different ways you quarantine, cook, bleach or whatever your parcels and post, actually can be damaging for anyone reading this with MH issues, anxiety, OCD tendancies etc... when I suffered really badly with health anxiety years ago, to the point I was on strong medication, going to counselling and still scratching my skin until it bled every day during anxiety attacks because of the fear of something happening to me or my family, it would have been really harmful to me to be anywhere near MN throughout this Pandemic with the amount of hysterics that have been posted recently. This type of thread included.

I just wish people would be honest with themselves and posters here about the actual risk and evidence in this area. And I think it's important that people do come onto these threads and tell the truth about the matter, that in fact there isn't any evidence to suggest this is needed.

Do it if you want but don't pretend that it's necessary.

I haven't, and never did - even at the height of it. I was very careful with handwashing though.

Just do what you're comfortable with.

We were wiping down shopping and have been led largely by the briefings my husband gets at the hospital where he works. We are no longer doing it, the advice he has been given now is that hand washing and distancing where possible are still the most important things and wiping shopping is not necessary..

And don't make out that people who do this are stupid, privileged or mentally ill. None of those are true. ( Definitely not in my case, thank you!)

From posts I've seen on MN, on threads like this, it's very obvious actually that some posters really are or are at least at risk of becoming, mentally ill from the levels of anxiety being displayed.

If you werent doing it in April I dont know why you would start now.

Short answer, no you dont need to but some people feel better by doing it so if they want to waste their time it's up to them.

I never did this.

Of course not, it's crazy behaviour. And as for those who say it takes 5 minutes, that's a total waste of 5 minutes because there is no way that you can effectively wipe a whole weekly shop in 5 minutes, it would take far longer than that to do it properly.

If you're worried about germs on your shopping, it's far better to just keep washing your hands after touching it. So instead of wiping every item, just deal with all the shopping, packaging etc as you normally would and then wash your hands. Job done.

We wiped / washed / quarantined ours when infection rates were highest - it was recommended to do so by a scientific adviser on the BBC so hardly "crazy behaviour" or suggested we're of low intellectual ability as one PP put it - but since evidence has emerged that passing on virus is likely to be aerosol based, and also rates going down / remaining low where we are, we've stopped.

No and never have done, ofcourse there is a risk but I felt it is a very small one to marry myself to wiping shopping down at home. By the time you got home to wipe it you have already been in contact with it for a start.

we've never wiped shopping and have stayed well throughout.