AIBU to think wiping down trolley handles is utterly pointless?

[RaspberryCoulis]

Just back from my weekly trek round Asda to do the shopping. Got hissed at by some woman because I bypassed the queue of people waiting in a (socially distanced) queue to spray and wipe their trolley handles.

I never bother, I have never bothered. Seems utterly pointless. Rates of Covid in my area sitting around 100 per 100,000. That's 0.001%. Even if you believe that 90% are asymptomatic, that would be 1000 per 100,000 or 0.01%. You'd have to be very unlucky for one of the 0.01% to be the person who had the trolley before you.

Then, that person would have had to be not wearing a mask (mask compliance in this town is very high), sneeze/cough/lick the trolley handle (removing their mask to do so), and then i'd have to smear my hands exactly where they'd licked, remove my own mask, and lick my fingers.

A somewhat unlikely scenario.

It's all about the supermarkets trying to show how "covid secure" they are, isn't it? And actually, it makes bugger all difference?

Trolleys are conductors of norovirus and I don't want that for Christmas either

Trolleys are collected at the same time as people put their masks on, and so, quite possibly as they give their noses one last wipe on their hand before going indoors. I'd imagine that you'd be more likely to encounter snot particles on them than in many other places, especially now the weather's cold and there's a general dampness and condensation in noses.

If infection rates are so low, why do you want to make a change that would increase risk?

We do use our own Santiser I just don’t wipe the trolleys if there is a queue and to be honest I’m very much a bit of dirt never hurt anyone mum and all I do think one negative of this cleaning of everything is adding to the issue that already exists of children not been exposed to enough germs plus developing allergies etc from environments been too clean and then there’s the chemicals so I am comfortable with not always cleaning the trolley for a healthy 2 year who even if he was to catch COVID would most likely have very mild symptoms if any at all.

I don’t, but I do wash my hands as soon as I’m home. And again after putting the shopping away.

I’m more concerned at the number of people usually walking around my local Asda with masks on - but wearing them under their noses. Nobody ever says anything. IMO they need a mask monitor in the shops!

@Meepmeeep

Thing is - generally in the supermarkets I use you’ve walked across the car park with said trolley before you even get to their cleaning stations. Pretty pointless after you’ve already touched it no?

Can't understand your thought process there. You could sanitise your hands and wipe the trolley handle when you get into the store. As long as you've not touched your face on the walk across the car park you're fine and it's worth doing to protect yourself and others - you're hardly touching lots of other things when walking through the car park are you? And if there was covid on the trolley handle, you're massively reducing the risk of catching and spreading it if you sanitise/wipe when you get into the store.

@cultkid

I don't know the stats on this

But

She was rude to speak to you it's none of her business
I never sanitise either but I do wear a mask

Surely if the place was contaminated so are the products so it doesn't make a difference

I wash my hands after I go to the toilet for a poo or changing nappies and handling raw meat but thats sort of it

I am really not a handwasher TBH and I never get sick

You don’t wash your hands if you’ve been to the toilet for a wee? Even though you’ll have (presumably) touched the seat, flush, etc? 🤮 this is why it’s good to clean the trolley handles, because people go to the toilet and don’t wash their hands and then touch the trolley handles with their gross unwashed hands.

@Jessuk86

We do use our own Santiser I just don’t wipe the trolleys if there is a queue and to be honest I’m very much a bit of dirt never hurt anyone mum and all I do think one negative of this cleaning of everything is adding to the issue that already exists of children not been exposed to enough germs plus developing allergies etc from environments been too clean and then there’s the chemicals so I am comfortable with not always cleaning the trolley for a healthy 2 year who even if he was to catch COVID would most likely have very mild symptoms if any at all.

Right.

I dont sanitize. Mostly because the antibacterial spray that is uauly used has a 5 minute contact time. Which means if you spray you need to wait 5 minutes before it is wiped off for it to have worked effectively.

Nobody does this, so your spraying and wiping is not as effective as you think.

In my place of work we have to be religious with checking contact times, and if we spray something we wait the appropriate time.

this is why it’s good to clean the trolley handles, because people go to the toilet and don’t wash their hands and then touch the trolley handles with their gross unwashed hands.

Yep. There are grimmers everywhere.

I do wear a mask and sanitise my hands though. It's no effort and might make a difference.

Wearing a mask is definitely an effort: it's an absolute fucking pain. Where required, I do it but only where it's a must.

I never used to but I always do now. I take my own dettol wipes and squirt hand gel on it and wipe - don’t use the stuff provided as everyone’s been touching it!

It’s really nothing to do with her. It doesn’t affect her if you don’t. As long as she cleans her own I can’t see her problem?

I am actually concerned that the obsession with constant hand sanitising encourages neurotic and compulsive behaviour and might damage some people’s mental health. I know a few people who sanitise their hands all the time and get noticeably worried if they have to touch a door handle or a button at a pedestrian crossing.

I had not seen such behaviour in real life prior to COVID. It looks strikingly similar to how Howard Hughes was portrayed in the “Aviator”. Now the sad movie seems to be turning into reality:(.

And I don't expect a medal, it's nobody's business but mine

But then you go about your business possibly spreading to others. This is not just about you. Sadly this is a deadly virus killing millions of people spreading like wildfire. All these little things that we do really can make a bit of a difference. It all adds up. Think of yourself as the butterfly flapping its wings.

I also feel that if it is on the trolley handles (unlikely) it is just as likely to be on the rest of the trolley and therefore on my shopping/on any of the products on the shelves/on the handle of the sanitising spray/on the buttons of the chip and pin machine etc.
I agree. I wash my hands before I go out, wear a mask throughout my supermarket trip, don't touch my face and wash my hands when I get home. If you started thinking about all the possible surfaces that could be harbouring the virus you'd go mad.

*I never bother, I have never bothered. Seems utterly pointless. Rates of Covid in my area sitting around 100 per 100,000. That's 0.001%.

100 per 100,000 is one in a thousand or 0.1%. Probably a lot of people have your attitude and therefore the previous 100 may not have wiped the trolley so that means there is a 10% chance that someone who is infected has touched it. That's not even counting for asymptomatic people.

I never bother, I have never bothered. Seems utterly pointless. Rates of Covid in my area sitting around 100 per 100,000. That's 0.001%.

100 per 100,000 is one in a thousand or 0.1%. Probably a lot of people have your attitude and therefore the previous 100 may not have wiped the trolley so that means there is a 10% chance that someone who is infected has touched it. That's not even counting for asymptomatic people.

But then you go about your business possibly spreading to others.

The chance of OP touching contaminated fomites (the trolley handle) and then transferring COVID to a different surface where it will be picked up by someone else is zero. As I mentioned earlier, even cases of direct fomite transmission are quite rare. Evidence of secondary fomite transmission is so far non-existent.

At Waitrose you are not allowed to take a trolley that is outside.

All the trolleys are collected by a staff member, wearing gloves.
They are then passed to someone in the doorway to spray and sanitise.

Then they are added to the 'clean' trolley bank in the doorway and you are directed to take one.

They also do not allow baskets because the trolley acts as a barrier/ social distancer between customers in the aisles.

Those posters who think this is OTT do you understand infection transmission?

It doesn't matter if it's D&V, or 'normal' flu, or Covid.
You can catch any of them by touching something an infected person has touched - door handles, worktops, produce....anything.

At my dentists they make you ask for the loo and the receptionist opens the door for you, then sanitises it (inside too) once you have come out.

It's basic infection control- cleaning surfaces.

Oh please

What a load of whingers on this thread.

I wear a mask all at work and clean, clean, clean all the live long frickin day. (Nurse in an outpatients department)

Cleaning a trolley handle, sanitising your hands and wearing a sodding mask requires virtually no effort at the supermarket.

Just get on with it and stop being so bloody selfish.

And for those who say 'I haven't passed Covid on to anyone - meep meep' How do you know you're not an asymptomatic carrier?

@RaspberryCoulis YABU and plain old lazy.

I’m not great at doing it myself tbh but I do use my own hand sanitiser as I go in.
Regardless though I think you’re talking out your arse about not being able to pick it up off surfaces.

Waitrose is catering to its customers - anxious middle class (often - working from home) population who might treat their weekly trip to the supermarket as a highly risky activity.

I have hardly been to Waitrose since the pandemic started. I tend to avoid places that go over the top with “COVID security”.

And for those who say 'I haven't passed Covid on to anyone - meep meep' How do you know you're not an asymptomatic carrier?

If people are shedding so much virus that they manage to infect others asymptomatically via surfaces, they would almost certainly infect at least some of their close contacts (e.g. family members).

Most of the suspected cases of fomite transmission have been traced to symptomatic/pre-symptomatic super spreaders.

If you read the small print on a lot of the sanitising sprays and wipes provided in supermarkets, they are only effective against viruses if they are in contact for a certain length of time, maybe up to 15 mins. So you should spray it liberally, leave for the amount of time stated then wipe off. A quick squirt on a paper towel wiped over the handle probably isn't that effective.
The same thing with using hand sanitiser - the WHO advises that to sanitise your hands properly with gel, you should use a palmful of product and rub it all over every surface of your hands for 20-30 seconds. I take people's details as they come into a building and we have a pump of gel on the table and the vast majority take a very small squirt and only rub it between their palms.

@Jessuk86

We do use our own Santiser I just don’t wipe the trolleys if there is a queue and to be honest I’m very much a bit of dirt never hurt anyone mum and all I do think one negative of this cleaning of everything is adding to the issue that already exists of children not been exposed to enough germs plus developing allergies etc from environments been too clean and then there’s the chemicals so I am comfortable with not always cleaning the trolley for a healthy 2 year who even if he was to catch COVID would most likely have very mild symptoms if any at all.

Just admit you can't be arsed.

@wintertravel1980

And for those who say 'I haven't passed Covid on to anyone - meep meep' How do you know you're not an asymptomatic carrier?

If people are shedding so much virus that they manage to infect others asymptomatically via surfaces, they would almost certainly infect at least some of their close contacts (e.g. family members).

Most of the suspected cases of fomite transmission have been traced to symptomatic/pre-symptomatic super spreaders.

Yes this was my earlier point. It's highly unlikely that an asymptomatic carrier would also be a super spreader.

Surface transmission is really rare, you only have to Google it to read several reliable, peer-reviewed sources that will tell you that. It's not impossible of course but it would have to be a "perfect" series of events www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200903/coronavirus-on-surfaces-whats-the-real-risk