AIBU to wonder if you still do these things with covid around?!

[Rainbowabacus1]

AIBU to wonder if you still do these things with covid and other viruses and bacteria about or if you’re more cautious these days.

Some examples:
-filling your car with petrol without wearing gloves to touch the handle of the pump.
-using a basket or trolley without wearing gloves/sanitizing first
-touching door handles and taps in public e.g. when using the toilet etc

Surely if someone is touching those things without precautions such as sanitization or gloves, their risk of catching something is higher than someone who is taking those extra precautions.

How long could germs live On those sorts If surfaces if they were not sanitized?

YABU: I don’t take any extra precautions
YANBU: I DO take extra precautions, you’d be mad not to

unless you are going to use a fresh pair of gloves EVERY TIME you touch something different, there is no benefit to using them.

I do all of these things and don't sanitise after. Not had covid or any bugs!

The trolley on right don't get though - so the handles of your trolley are now clean, but what about every item you pick up from the shelves?

I don’t do any of that but I do wash my hands regularly and always when I come home and before I eat.

I dont do any of those things. I dont wash my hands any more frequently than usual either.

I sanitised trolley handles when everyone was queuing to get into supermarkets because I felt like the whole queue of people would judge me if I didn't! But it doesn't come naturally to me to try and kill every germ in the surrounding area, I've never been one for repeatedly washing my hands etc.

I haven’t done any of those things, worked in a secondary school doing testing at the beginning of this year and have been working (part time) in a primary school since mid March. No covid or any illness, actually. No reaction to the first 2 vaccination, short lived reaction to the booster.
DH has been WFH since 2020 but has been going to London once a week (ish, after all it means getting up a lot earlier 😜). No change in habits either and no illness,
DC have done a mixture of school/Uni/shop and pub work. They have caught colds, etc. but no covid.
All, apart from DH, have done LFTs regularly/when needed and DC have done PCRs when required. All negative.

What we’re doing works for us. Most people I know have adjusted to wearing masks, are more conscientious about basic hygiene and considerate towards others and potential anxieties. But not much more.

Infection from surfaces is still a possibility though.

It's so minuscule as to be barely worth talking about. The chances of the virus surviving the route from surface to face is virtually nil.

Do it if it makes you feel better, but in that understanding.

Never done any of these things - the only glove wearing I do is when crafting with stuff that's not nice to the skin. I have primary age kids - if I'm going to get a germ - I'm going to get a germ.

I still do all of these things, but I have hand sanitizer in my handbag, which is used regularly

I do more hand-sanitising now than pre-covid but mostly because all those videos about germs traveling from surface to surface lodged in my brain. I wouldn't have carried sanitiser in the car before, just baby wipes for emergencies like smelling of petrol. And I am much more aware of how much I touch things unnecessarily.

In the run-up to big things I take extra precautions, and most people I know do, partly because we don't want to have to cancel and partly to avoid exposing others unwittingly.

@Foghead

I don’t do any of that but I do wash my hands regularly and always when I come home and before I eat.

Same here.

Oh, and I am very hot on closing the lid before flushing. Those videos really got to me! Strangely my kids have adopted the closing the lid thing but STILL don't flush ...

I had extreme post natal anxiety/health anxiety/germophopia after each DC so I was well-prepared for a pandemic

We wear masks in crowded places, wash our hands and wipe our phones over as soon as we get in the door at home and I will wipe down the trolley if DC are riding in it. That's it though (bit proud of myself for not going OTT given past history).

I don't do any of those things. I just wear a mask and use hand sanitizer. Haven't had covid.

This is an airborbe virus and while there is that risk, of course, from surfaces, I wish the messaging on this would change and focus on ventilation.

I know several people who douse themselves in hand gel, including one who won't touch escalator or stair rails properly, yet is in their 70s with failing eyesight and poor balance. Yet they will happily sit in a car or room with others without a thought for ventilation.

I don't think gloves are helpful outside of a medical situation to be honest as the issue is around people touching their face which they may still do in the gloves . Plus which, all that waste .

I just sanitise after leaving shops, and hold rails and push doors with my sleeve. Previously if 'out and about' I would only have sanitised my hands before eating but I do it all the time now.

I just wash / sanitise after

I don't do any of those things. I'd be sanitising all day, every day if so (work in a secondary school). I just wash hands with soap and water after the loo and before eating. I don't really think surface transmit is a risk.

Gloves are pointless and terrible for the environment

I use sanitizer when entering and leaving places when it’s there and have one in my car

I’ve never touched the loo flush/door handle. Use a piece of tissue. This is more to avoid sick bugs than covid, which I got loads of in one heat 2018-2019

I am utterly sick of seeing people wearing saggy fabric masks under their noses getting too close to each other while they try to share the one crappy bottle of sanitizer to wipe their trolley handles.

(There’s a Home Bargains near me where this is especially common).

It’s airborne. We need to knock off the hygiene theatre and start being more aware of ventilation.

(Positive and missing Christmas teacher here. All the sanitiser in the world isn’t enough when you’re breathing the air of thirty unmasked kids six times a day. But that’s okay, school send someone with a wet rag to tickle the desks over at lunchtime)

@KaleJuicer

I have said YABU as I wash / sanitise my hands AFTER doing all these things, and have done so for the last 15 years or so. Accordingly, I haven’t had to change my behaviour. Wearing a mask is new though.

Ditto, I've always wiped down my door handles too. I'm probably just a weirdo though , my friends thought I was mad

1. contact infection is actually vanishingly small. The likelihood of you getting it from a trolley handle is tiny .
2. I tend to hand sanitize as I go into shops if they have it, and wash my hands when I get home. So, I am careful about putting hands to mouth etc while out and about. This is actually not just a covid thing. I used to live in third world countries and so got into the habit of hand washing when I get home.

I still touch everything as normal. I just wash my hands when I get home and before I eat. I haven’t caught it yet.

@KaleJuicer

I have said YABU as I wash / sanitise my hands AFTER doing all these things, and have done so for the last 15 years or so. Accordingly, I haven’t had to change my behaviour. Wearing a mask is new though.

I agree. Surely everybody does it after?