Risks being close to people when shopping?

[Viv0321]

What would you say the Risk of catching Covid by being close to people when shopping?

If all parties are masked then my understanding is that you have to be within 1m of that person for a full 15 minutes before you'd count for contact tracing purposes. If you're close to loads of people but fleetingly, as is normally the case when shopping, then I would have thought the risk is vanishingly small.

I'm not an expert, but I'd say risks are low if you are next to them briefly (2-3 mins). Social distancing as we queue and masks should help cut the risk of transmission further.
I'm more concerned about being on an unventilated bus with the same people for 10-20 minutes. I have avoided traveling to only essential trips, but about half the people on our buses don't wear masks.

I also wish people would stop talking so much on public transport, or shouting over to their friends. It's very common to be next to someone on a bus who talks on their mobile phone incessantly for 30 mins. They seem to be (purposely) unaware that transmission can be increased in that way.

It’s airborne so if someone is maskless and infected there is every chance you could get it in a supermarket just by being there.

As for contact, unlikely if just walking past unless they’re coughing or talking loudly etc.

Tiny

Very small. Especially if you both wear a mask

Try going back to the threads at the beginning of the year. So many people saying they didn’t leave the house/see anyone apart from once a week in a shop going one way.

The less than 2m for 15mins is bollocks as they need a cut off for track and trace. One lot of exhaled air and one in Is enough. But track and trace needs to catch the majority not all and they can’t do that with supermarkets etc

Exactly. You could walk with nobody in the aisle, but if someone has just coughed/exhaled enough virus and walked off before you then you could easily become infected. Masks do help but they are not 100%, obviously. I find it really worrying that people think it’s 2m for 15 mins - that’s just the cut off because like you say they can’t catch absolutely every case.

Trolleys are great for enforcing distance in shops. It's still 2 metres apart here.

Very small if you wear a mask and stay 2m apart. It’s been researched and the risk would be very small

It can remain in the air for hours so the 15 min thing is just a track and trace cut off point. It’s why we avoid actual shopping as not worth the risk especially as shops are not allowed to enforce masks so lots don’t bother.

What about the ones that walk right next to you? What are you supposed to do about that?

If they walk past you unless they cough on you etc you're at pretty much Nil risk. You're only really at risk if you spend a prolonged amount of time with them. Hence you have to fill in track and trace (or use the app) for restaurants and cafes but not supermarkets.

Minuscule

I work in a shop. Many of the staff are there full time. As far as I know, no staff member has had it, and they have people walking past them all day. If anyone at work had got it, that news would spread like wildfire and we would know. Hope that reassures you.