Is everyone washing their groceries?

[IToldYouIWasFreaky]

Not sure if I'm being paranoid or sensible but for the past week of so, I've been washing (with a dilute bleach solution) everything that comes into or leaves the house.
Any groceries are also washed in bleach, with loose fruit and veg being washed in washing up liquid and thoroughly rinsed.
I'm also regularly bleaching door handles and surfaces.
Obviously, we're all still washing our hands thoroughly and constantly.

Just wondered what other people were doing?

These are the timescales i have read about

But you can empty packaging and then wash your hands. You dont need to abandon your food for days

No, washing hands regularly. If I start down that track then I’m not sure my mental health would survive.

The key word there is 'detected'. Demented and viccat are right. Minuscule risk of catching the virus, where it is detected on surfaces. Concentrate on washing your hands!

I can't empty out bottles of squash or milk or cans of coke (though sometimes they have an outer wrapping).
Packets of biscuits. Salad in a wrap.
If I had to go out to work just now I would be meeting more germs that way, but since we are all in the house it's the thought of something coming in this way that worries.

No, I read an article in the guardian saying it’s not likely to help and people are likely to make themselves sick ingesting chemicals. I’m just washing my hands as soon as I get home, before I unpack.

Yes. I started today under these exceptional circumstances. Today I dropped all scanned items in my thoroughly wiped down trolley at Aldi, and packed the shopping in the boot of the car, after wiping down every single item with hand sanitizer wipes. It took me about 10 minutes, and 8 wipes for an £80 shopping, and an extra bonus was the packing was very nice and orderly, compared to my usual 'rushed by the cashier' packing. This way, I know I have limited the possibility of bringing the virus home, especially on all the plastic packaging. I did worry that someone would see me doing this and think I was crazy, though I did it anyway. I am following all rules, and I think this is just going the extra mile to protect myself and my family. Nothing wrong with that!

I’m washing packets etc with dettol water
Fruit and veg were just being rinsed- do I add soap? Does it taste soapy?

I just do not have the time or the head space to worry about this. Washing my hands and that’ll have to do.

I used anti bac on everything delivered today.
Im sure it's a little crazy. But I did it anyway.
Because I'm scared. And it made me feel safer.

Nah, fuck that.

Have to admit I haven't. Anything new in the fridge has been put at the back, under other stuff so it's left as long as possible before someone touches in. I was paranoid about washing hands, use of sanitizer, disinfecting surfaces where goods had touched/I'd touched.

The rest will stay in bags in the hall for a couple of days. DH thinks it's a good idea as well, even if it's in the way.

I still wash milk bottles (delivered from a farm) when bringing them in. I was always told you have to assume the milkman's hands are dirty, and they have been on the doorstep and potentially exposed to grime and wildlife.

Fruit and veg, generally wash before eating, if it's something like an apple where you eat the peel, raw, that may have been handled. Raspberries because fruit pickers may not have been provided with proper sanitary facilities (there was a famous food-poisoning case about that).

Tins, packets etc are going to be put away.

BTW the chart of times for virus to diminish are of no help. Because they don't tell you what the virus load was at the start and end of the period, and they don't tell you what's considered to be a "safe" level, therefore you can't calculate at what point things become "safe." It's good practice to frequently wipe doorhandles, taps, WC seats, doorbell pushes, handrails etc with a detergent cleaner, which also kills CV.

The source document also doesn't tell you that and, for its "in the air" figures omits the effect of room ventilation which changes the air in the room.

We've started washing shopping in warm soapy water where possible, and also taking any excess packaging off outside the house straight into recycling or into the bin (crisp multipack bag, cardboard sleeves, that kind of thing).

It's making my anxiety go through the roof though to be honest

So if it can “persist in the air” for 3 hours, someone infected could cough/sneeze and it would be still in the air up to 3 hours later, potentially spread around by the wind? Genuinely curious if that’s the case.

I imagine that the wind would disperse it and then it would be too diluted to be infective. The 3 hour figure was found under lab conditions with still air rather than under outdoor conditions

Plus some would fall to the ground as well. It wont just stay in one position

the "in the air" in the document is useless. You can't use it to calculate a safe time.

no

Sounds like an extreme over-reaction and waste of bleach and wipes. If you run out and can no longer sanitise the surfaces people have actually been advised to ensure they keep clean, or someone in the house brings covid19 home and you have run out of the means to protect the rest of the family from a genuine threat to your health, rather than ridiculous paranoia, you’ll regret it. A can of beans is not going to leak dangerous virus all over your house just from sitting in your cupboard - just keep your hands clean instead and stop fondling cans of beans... If you’re cooking the food, it seems a particularly heinous waste. I can see why you might want to do something more than usual about raw apples or uncooked salad veg, but cleaning everything is just working hard to make the world run out of cleaning resources!!!

Thank you for the replies to my question. I did think most of the droplets would fall the ground too. Especially seeing all the footage of the streets being sanitised in China.

So if you grt a veg box. How would you wash a brocoli or cabbage...?

Absolutely no way I’d go the extremes on here.

I expect you keep your broccoli isolated until needed,and then boil it to death handling only with bleached hands and pan.

I did mine with soap (fairy liquid) yesterday.

I got a dishwashing sponge, tiny bowl of water and soap into the sponge. Little bit of water on that and you get loads of bubbles. Got these all over the shopping and then left in the sun to dry for ten mins. Took about 3 mins to do £40 worth.

I may be paranoid but I’m not exactly short of time at the moment.