In the last several weeks, I have had a few friends and
colleagues ask what I do when I grocery shop and when I bring my food
home. I must admit my husband has done
most of the shopping, and not just because of COVID-19. I loathe grocery shopping. I will get only on what’s on the list I have
been given and if I cannot find something easily, it simply does not come
home. The few times I have gone
shopping, I have to say it is not so bad.
But then again, cutting down the number of people in the store means less
cart jams so I’m not getting cart rage.
There have been a number of suggestions for what to do when
grocery shopping from all sorts of people, with the most ridiculous being a
recommendation to follow almost an aseptic
technique with surgical precision. I
have heard stories that people have spent almost an hour wiping everything down
with a disinfectant wipe prior to bringing anything in the house. We have moved to disposable plastic bags
versus using our reusable bags. We sanitize our hands; before entering the
store, when we are leaving the store, after putting groceries in the car, put
the cart away and before we get into our car.
We then wash our hands after we have finished putting the groceries
away. I will openly admit, I know I have
eaten an apple and pear without washing it.
It’s true that grocery shopping carries extra risk. Not only are you near other people, but many
of the products you're buying have probably been handled by others, have
definitely been in the 6’ bubbles of others, meaning it is quite possible that they
have been sneezed or coughed on. I
wholeheartedly agree that social distancing is extremely important and from my
blog last week, wearing a mask in public keeps your respiratory droplets to
yourself, helping reduce contamination of surfaces if you happen to be
asymptomatic and are shedding COVID-19 while shopping. The CDC and every infection prevention
expert I have heard continues to support that washing or sanitizing your hands
is the single most important thing we can do, as is NOT touching your face and
not eating until you have washed your hands.
I have seen an increased use of gloves and certainly, from an infection
prevention perspective, they have their place, but unless you are trained in
how to use them, in most cases you are potentially doing more harm than
good. Assuming you use them, do you put
them on prior to leaving your car? If
you said yes, think about your shopping routine and how many things you have
touched. Do you take them off after you
have placed your groceries on the checkout conveyor? Do you keep them on until
you get home, as I have to assume happens based on the number of blue hands I
have been seeing of late? If you do the
latter, think of the number of things you have touched? As a female, you have likely gone into your
purse to get your wallet and retrieved your credit or debit card. How many times did you touch your phone while
shopping? Is it sunny out? Did you put sunglasses on while walking to
the car? Did you have to grab your keys?
I think you get the point.
If you wear gloves thinking you are protecting yourself, please
understand that those gloves have touched everything and has the chance to pick
up pathogens like COVID-19 along the way.
This is why my husband and I do not wear gloves in public but then
sanitized our hands frequently while we are out shopping.
While there is evidence that contaminated surfaces may help in the
spread of COVID-19, there is no evidence that food or food packaging has been
linked to getting sick. The CDC’s
recommendations are to wash
your hands, disinfect the handles of grocery carts or baskets and avoid
touching your face. We have enough to
worry about, please do not add additional anxiety to your life.
Bugging Off!
Nicole
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