AIBU to think this is incredibly wasteful, hysterical and doesn’t make sense anyway?!

[Dennisreynoldsduster]

I’ll caveat this by saying I have experience with anxiety and have been anxious about the media frenzy and increasingly disturbing videos/info coming out of China regarding coronavirus.
So I’m not belittling anxiety.

However my friend informed me today that shes been to Costco and bought toothbrushes in bulk and is using a NEW toothbrush every time she cleans her teeth to avoid “bacteria” on the brush because of coronavirus.
She doesn’t seem to be introducing other precautions such as washing her hands more, antibac gel or whatever, this seems to be the summation of her efforts.

It’s batshit right? It’s not just me? I was so astonished I couldn’t quite articulate my argument as to why this will make no difference at all other than to point out that it makes no sense!

Argh, some people are really quiet ignorant and stupid.

Well at least she isn’t refusing to be dialysed by (longterm UK resident) Filipino nurses, as some of my more charming patients are. After all you can’t be too careful 🤷‍♀️

Quiet was obviously a typo, I meant quite. Fairly ironic typo, I know.

Well...she is harming someone. A new toothbrush every day means ridiculous numbers of plastic brushes being dumped. She's unnecessarily harming the planet, thus harming everyone. She's a dick.

well at least now you can confirm that she isn't very bright.

Viruses do live on toothbrushes. They usually get there from your mouth. But once there can survive for weeks. A good example is the cold sore virus.

@firstimemamma I would love new socks every day! And pants. And bedding (mostly bedding, imagine how nice that would be!) however I'm not made of money and I'm not bat crap crazy

Shocking waste.
On that note; Tesco are selling 5 packs of “guest” toothbrushes for about a quid at the moment. Obviously intended to be, well maybe not quite single use but certainly disposable.
When did people become so feeble that they can’t work out they need to bring a toothbrush with them when staying in someone else’s home?
You don’t see multipacks of “guests” knickers, do you?

@izzywizzygood "End of" because you say so? You're as batshit as OP's friend. Need a spare toothbrush?

Batshit central.

If an effective vaccine is a year away, she will need 700+ toothbrushes.

Could you show her the toothbrush covers or show her that they can be put in the dishwasher?
I am very concerned about coronavirus but there are other ways to protect your toothbrush.

I think a new toothbrush every day is extreme and as it doesn’t follow any of the Coronavirus advice and information it’s pointless. I’d be a bit concerned that she has come up with this idea, it sounds unrelated.

she’s not very bright is she......

Crazy!

When did people become so feeble that they can’t work out they need to bring a toothbrush with them when staying in someone else’s home?

Not necessarily feeble, but very possibly teenagers who suddenly decide they are staying. I keep packs of cheapo toothbrushes for this eventuality.

Tell her to shave her hair off just in case germs are stuck in there. Off topic I know but I shaved my eyebrows off as a teenager when my brother told me that mites live in eyebrows!

More money than sense evidently.

I use an electric toothbrush, this wouldn't be possible (have you seen how expensive replacement heads are? ) If you're that worried about germs boiling water is your friend.

@ExhaustedGrinch did they grow back, or did you live to regret it?

I mean in a very tentative way what she's doing almost makes sense - there's a lot of suspicion that cornavirus can be spread via the fecal-oral route. Flushing the toilet spreads poo particles that could rest on your tooth brush. But that's always the case and if there was infected poo particles on your brush then someone crapping in your loo has already been infected. Plus... it's a bit bonkers... and pretty unlikely.

Surely everyone knows by now you shouldn't flush the loo until you've put the lid down .

We replace our bathroom mats (5 bathrooms - sob!) every week. DH “knows” they would be clean after a hot wash but has an irrational fear about dirty feet/floors.

Bloody hell.

Do you replace your carpets as well? Does he shit in all five bathrooms?

Flushing the toilet spreads poo particles that could rest on your tooth brush

You should be using a “toilet” brush not a “tooth” brush

We replace our bathroom mats (5 bathrooms - sob!) every week.

This needs to be expanded on. How much use does a single bath mat get before it’s thrown away like a used tissue? Do you have a large household or does DH use a different bathroom almost every day of the week?