If you washed your shopping are you still doing so?

[HJ40]

Not looking for a pile on from those who never did because there are plenty of those threads already.

I chose to dunk everything in Milton because back at the start of covid, so much was unknown. I was pregnant and scared. DH & I were able to work from home and our DC1 was at home when nursery was closed. We were perfectly, totally, isolated so it made sense to wash the shopping as our only possible point of exposure.

And then the habit has stuck because it's actually no hassle and better to be on the safe side.

But more than a a year on, DC1 has been back at nursery every day for 14months now and DC2 is about to start. We're going out and about, albeit cautiously, but fairly normally. DH & I are AZ double jabbed but too young for the booster. DH will soon have to return to commuting by train at least two days per week and I will be going back into my office.

I'm wondering if the time has come to stop? Given all our other potential contact points, shopping seems pretty low down the risk list.

At the beginning Dh and I were fairly hysterical, me being very cev. But then no one knew much about covid then.

Now don’t bother washing shopping at all, although I am always very hygiene aware and, as I mentioned upthread, do a full scrubbing job on a supermarket trolley handle as who knows what’s on that….

If I could be bothered I would collate all those posts back in the early days in which posters swore they had contracted covid from the post/gatepost etc. Very obviously they were lying.

I remember discussion somewhere at the beginning of the pandemic about whether it was safe to pat someone else’s dog as the dog hair might be a fomite that Covid could stick to!

I personally haven’t even used hand SA unless forced to through Covid (it doesn’t agree with my skin), just washed my hands with normal soap mans water. Have been using public transport to commute to the office every day and not caught so much as a cold (usually get at least two shocking colds a year).

@72WayTooCool

No, never washed or quarantined anything. That way madness lies imo.

That's what I said to my friend when she asked if I was doing it. I work in a supermarket, before, during and after the panic buying: no screens, no social distancing, no ppe, no limit on customer numbers. I was touching thousands of items a day and, touch wood, I've not had it.

Omg you've been bleaching your shopping for almost 2 years? Please don't feed that food to your children!!!

@Rhinothunder

Omg you've been bleaching your shopping for almost 2 years? Please don't feed that food to your children!!!

I've not read any posts about bleaching food?

@WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles

Some of these posts are a bit reminiscent of people in the medieval period flagellating themselves and avoiding sleeping in the day etc, in an effort to avoid plague.

IMO the risks (to mental health, environmental reasons etc) far outweigh any possible benefits and just aren't reasonable measures. Quarantining post? It reminds me of frantically sterilising all my DC's bottles for exactly 13 minutes, while they crawled around licking chair legs or trying to eat the soil from plant pots etc.

(I do have skin in the game of worrying about the consequences more due to being CEV, but I see that as more of a reason to keep things in proportion. Mental health is just as important as physical health. And all the wipes in landfill etc!

Some of these posts are a bit reminiscent of people in the medieval period flagellating themselves and avoiding sleeping in the day etc, in an effort to avoid plague.

Indeed, it's more about managing anxiety than actual Covid risk.

We did this too as I was also pregnant at the start of lockdown. Stopped doing it within the last couple of weeks, after we caught a simple cold that felt horrendous. 18 month of no germs and it hit us hard! Plus we found out we have Antibodies as well as being fully vaccinated. Feels like time to stop

We have high-exposure jobs and DC in school.So no need to add more risk on top.

It's all a bit like driving 30 miles to work through busy urban traffic, but parking your on the road outside your house in case you crash it whilst driving onto your drive.... Or smoking 60 a day but refusing to walk down the street due to the risk from inhaling car fumes.

Milton is bleach (sodium hypochlorite). She's been washing all her shopping with it .... Crazy!

@Warhertisuff

We have high-exposure jobs and DC in school.So no need to add more risk on top.

It's all a bit like driving 30 miles to work through busy urban traffic, but parking your on the road outside your house in case you crash it whilst driving onto your drive.... Or smoking 60 a day but refusing to walk down the street due to the risk from inhaling car fumes.

Not really.

If I spend all day in FFP3 masks and gloves, visor, apron so as to avoid covid, I'll be damned if I risk catching it off my groceries.

Anyway, as mentioned, those grocery boxes and crates are a massive source of salmonella from chicken packaging, and norovirus loves fomite transmission, so I'd rather just lower my risk all round.

We initially wiped down all of our shopping at the beginning of the pandemic, but then gave up after a few months as it was too time consuming.

I still wipe down shopping trolley handles and scan my own shopping which is immediately packed into shopping bags. If the supermarket worker needs to conduct a security check, I ask them to tell me which items they would like to scan so I can hold them whilst they scan them.

I sanitise my hands when leaving the supermarket and then again before getting into the car (after loading shopping into the car and getting rid of the trolley).

I’ve always washed my hands upon returning home. I unpack shopping and wash my hands again when I’ve finished unpacking.
I wipe down milk bottles with antibacterial wipes before putting them in the fridge as they often usually look grubby. I also wash the fruit and wipe down kitchen surfaces throughout the day when preparing food.

I also wipe my phone with antibac wipes a few times during the day, if I’m out and about.

I do all that and I’m double jabbed, but it did stop me from contacting Covid from one of my primary school aged children last week and now the other DC is also sick. The Teacher went down first and now the school has multiple positive Covid cases for that particular year, so the school is re-instating the bubbles for that year.

*did not stop

@Rhinothunder

Milton is bleach (sodium hypochlorite). She's been washing all her shopping with it .... Crazy!

Actually Milton is "food safe" and used in many professional environments, you'd be very surprised how many restaurants, hotels etc use this or similar.

@Rhinothunder

Milton is bleach (sodium hypochlorite). She's been washing all her shopping with it .... Crazy!

There's a difference between washing your shopping/packaging and washing your food

Anyway, Milton is suggested for washing fruit and veg if you're worried about germs or tap water quality for washing them in e.g. abroad and it's fine for sterilising babies stuff and using right away.

Gross! Who knew people would endource a daily dose of bleach! Fair play to those who do it but i truly can't imagine doing it myself- will take our chances with mother nature and water/ boiled water for baby bottles rather than a daily bleach ingestion for the whole family

No one is going to have much of an immune system left if this stupid shit carries on. The immune system is like muscles and bones - it has to be challenged to get stronger. Also all this bleach is crap for the gut microbiome...we are supposed to be exposed to germs, bugs, dirt, animals and viruses! We are evolved to function in a works that contains these things.

Works = world.

We are evolved to function in a works that contains these things.
But until we are able to split these things Covid is still potentially there ?!
On top of this the lack of mitigating measures in schools, public spaces, lack of masks etc merely encourages transmission -we are afforded no choice but to participate in this-therefore risking our households and extended family members.
I think this madness needs to stop and perhaps only then the actions of others just trying their best that you view as so crazy may adjust.
I don't expect anybody to do the same as me but neither do I feel the need to call them mad for their choices. People are forced into this situation it's not likely to improve anytime soon, maybe consider the wider picture for a second ?

I'll accept its not ideal but equally there's not really an alternative

Well yes there is. If you really have to wash food you could use soapy water and a cloth rather than wipes. It's time wipes were banned.

@DoubleShotEspresso

We are evolved to function in a works that contains these things. But until we are able to split these things Covid is still potentially there ?! On top of this the lack of mitigating measures in schools, public spaces, lack of masks etc merely encourages transmission -we are afforded no choice but to participate in this-therefore risking our households and extended family members. I think this madness needs to stop and perhaps only then the actions of others just trying their best that you view as so crazy may adjust. I don't expect anybody to do the same as me but neither do I feel the need to call them mad for their choices. People are forced into this situation it's not likely to improve anytime soon, maybe consider the wider picture for a second ?

But there is virtually no risk of catching Covid from your shopping. It is an airborne virus. Wiping shopping is not going to make you any safer.

The best time to stop was the day you started, the second best time is today

And you’re also getting rid of minor bugs that will strengthen your immune system- useful if you did ever happen to contract covid (which you are extremely unlikely to do from leaving shopping unwashed). I have heard multiple people say - on here and in real life - that they haven’t had a cold for ages and how marvellous that it. Actually spin that around and say your immune system has done nothing much for 18 months and will probably have a shock next time you pick something up...imagine sitting on your arse for 18 months then going for a run.

We used to do this, then we caught Covid from our primary school age children. It seemed a bit pointless after that.

I haven't read anything on this thread that has made me think I should go back to cleaning the shopping, I'm glad to have moved on and just doing my best to avoid Covid in ways that make actual sense.

Interesting about the immune system @littlepeas.

I did this for over a year, including when dh had covid. I've stopped now. We're still alive. But i wouldn't slag off anyone for doing anything in all this. We're all different.