Are you wiping down groceries because of the new variant?

[LaughingStock2021]

I am. Are you?

I have a shitload on my plate at the moment so haven't started digging through articles recommending it or saying it's all nonsense to do so, but with the 70% more infectious strain we are doing it. Wondered if anyone had seen anything related to the new strain and what new precautions we could take?

I’ve not stopped. We wipe down all fridge and frozen foods and bread which goes in the freezer. All tinned and packet foods go in my store cupboard and we don’t touch them for 5 days

I am shielding and have been wiping down groceries and surfaces since the beginning.

I bought an industrial autoclave to do mine. Handy, as I can fit the DC's and Granny in there too.

Yes of course! Never stopped, if you can catch it from a trolley handle or a checkout and then pass it on when you touch your mouth surely the same applies to other metal plastic or glass surfaces.

Mine is home delivered more often than not drivers don’t wear masks and could breathe and cough over food just before you touch. Considering many people have “only been” to the supermarket. It’s not skin off my nose to be extra careful.

I have been doing it all through - I dunk fridge and freezer stuff in a bowl of disinfectant. Then leave cupboard stuff in bags for a couple of days before putting away.

No and I don't think I ever will. It's too much for me. But if it makes you feel better then guess there's no harm provided that you are careful to wash the sanitizer off before eating it.

I had a prem baby during first lockdown so we made sure we washed all shopping with antibacterial wipes. We still do it now.

My delivery driver today had his nose poking out over the mask and kept trying to move closer to me and I had to ask several times for him to move back. Really odd behaviour, we've had deliveries throughout and they are normally great.

Made me wonder how careless he's being with distancing in general as well as hand hygiene. Think that's why it's on my mind.

@XDownwiththissortofthingX

I bought an industrial autoclave to do mine. Handy, as I can fit the DC's and Granny in there too.

🤣

Given that my partner works in a hospital, I work in an office and my child is at school I'm not expecting to catch COVID off a packet of spinach.
Never have done and never will do.

All these wipes...

Can people, if they insist on doing want to do it, at least use kitchen roll and antibacterial spray?

I’ve been wiping everything that comes into the house since March. Anything that can’t be wiped (veg etc) stays in the bag until I use it, then it gets washed as part of prep.

Yes, never stopped. Shopping is a surface, surfaces can be contaminated, so I want the surfaces in my home to be as virus free as I can make them if I can easily do so.

The scientist Prof Peter Horby I saw on the BBC Andrew Marr ( www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p093m5j0 , 2min47sec in) addressed this. He thinks contact with surfaces is an infection route and but thinks shopping is an unlikely source compared to high contact surfaces like tills. So, a low risk compared to other things that he went on to describe, none of which I do. So cleaning or quarantining shopping does lower my household risk even if it isn't particularly high in the first place. I have the time, it doesn't bother me, so why wouldn't I?

I have been since the first lockdown.

@heLacksnotluster

I only take evidence based actions.

Yeah I respect that but has there been any evidence based advice relating specifically to the new variant which is commonly quoted as 70% more transmissible?

Does that not mean there is a question over fomites now, whereas there was general agreement the risk was very small before?

Or is the 70% figure sensationalism? Honestly, I can't keep up anymore!

Yes. I've started again. It doesn't take long to give them a soapy wipe.

And I'm quarantining store cupboard goods that I don't need to touch straight away.

No, and wouldn't have time to even if I wanted to

@LaughingStock2021

Is there enough virus to be dangerous though?

This is the bit I'm interested in! Whether fomites are a possible transmission risk now with the new strain.

Would you not wash your hands before you ate the sandwich?

I wash my hands, make my sandwich, and eat it, usually. I don't was them again before I eat?

But even if I did wash my hands immediately before picking up the sandwich - I'm being thick but can't see how that makes a difference?

My (washed) hands have opened the packet of cheese, taken out the cheese to cut it, so I've handled the packaging and then the cheese, then put it between the bread.

I guess you could handwash in the middle of the sandwich process after opening the packet before taking out the cheese?

To me it's a lot more effort to do it that way, I feel it's easier to clean stuff and then they go in the fridge and I don't have to wonder if they're clean or not!

@LaughingStock2021 I do the same as you precisely for this reason. I'm a scientist and just don't see the point in risking it. Levels of virus on groceries are likely to be very low, but it's something I can do to reduce my risk further.

The public health advice is to clean hard surfaces regularly as the virus can and does last on surfaces, so its a no brainer for me.

@Sparklingbrook you’d wash your hands before you prepared the sandwich though wouldn’t you. You wouldn’t wash them again.

Yes, but I've been doing it ever since last March, so it's business as usual!

Can people, if they insist on doing want to do it, at least use kitchen roll and antibacterial spray?

Well I say 'wipe down' but I use kitchen roll and rubbing alcohol.

I put it in sink, drizzle washin up liquid over it and rinse it all with water.. Takes minuets

I didn’t in Lockdown 1&2. When we moved in to tier 4 and the new variant came around I started wiping all the groceries (and anything else I ordered!) with dettol.

I live with someone that’s shielding, so it makes sense to me currently. I don’t judge anyone who doesn’t/does, it’s up to them to make that decision.

@Sparklingbrook

I would have thought if this was a HUGE problem re transmission then some advice would have been issued to do it. But if you have the time and it makes you feel better crack on.

This.