Image: Youtube
Because our age puts my husband and me in a high-risk category for Covid-19 and because I know the pandemic won’t last forever, I’m going to try the doctor’s grocery-disinfecting techniques from the 13-minute video below. It’s a lot of work and most people will think it’s nuts. But there are some good tips here. And you know, unless you are a health-care worker or suddenly homeschooling, you do have time.
Among the easier tips: leaving nonperishables in the garage or on the porch for the three days it takes for the contagion to dissipate; buy only hot takeout and reheat it in the microwave or stove; toss the outer cereal box and just keep the inner liner; dump bread into a container you can seal and throw out the bread bag.
Most people could manage that, I think.
Meanwhile, I confess that I am washing bananas now, but I’m not yet at the doctor’s 20-second requirement. At first my husband said, “Wash bananas? They have their own skin and you throw it out.” But then he realized we weren’t talking about washing because you are going to eat the banana but because the outside of anything that unknown people have touched can spread germs around your house.
But he still wasn’t really on board. Then he read a New York Times article by infectious disease expert Michael T. Osterholm, here, called “It’s Too Late to Avoid Disaster, But There Are Still Things We Can Do” (!) and decided maybe we do have to up our game. We’re on our own. Watch the video, and let me know what you think.
On a more cheerful note, whenever I can get technology to work, it’s been a pretty great boon. We had a four-way chat with our kids on FaceTime yesterday that was fun and funny, and today I go online with What’s App or Skype to help an Afghan asylum seeker with her grad school application.
Hang in, Folks. This won’t last forever.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
But what a long, scary slog it will be!
I’m hoping that when this washing business becomes routine, I’ll be able to do it while thinking about other things.
Just had a brief phone call with my son, who is an emergency services coordinator for Los Angeles County. If you want to talk about how busy they are down there, in a couple of months he’ll have tales to tell! They Have plenty of homeless people there, and tourism is shut down, so the County is renting hotel and motel space to get them off the streets and paying for their lodging which keeps the hotels in business, but the staff has to be schooled in self protection and sanitation because there isn’t a surplus of trained sanitation workers with experience in safety equipment doing housecleaning in the pool of workers. That’s just one aspect of what he’s dealing with.
There will be some memorable stories that come out of this epidemic!
True. But when I get discouraged, I think, How many Americans will be around to hear those stories?
That sounds like a lot of work.
It definitely wouldn’t appeal to everyone, but I am trying to get into the routine. I don’t have bleach wipes but I made a disinfectant solution. And I am washing fruit.
These are great tips and something I’m going to do when I get my groceries next time. I never thought about the frozen foods!
That was really surprising. I would have thought that freezing would kill the germ. Then again, we know some germs from prehistoric times have been preserved when frozen. I hope you do a blog post on the sanitizing routine. 🙂