Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, stress-free grocery shopping has become a thing of the
past, at least for now.
People are expressing concerns over how to keep themselves and their communities safe
through social distancing in crowded grocery stores.
And it's not just being in the stores that feels dangerous; many are concerned about
coming into contact with surfaces which could potentially be contaminated by someone who
might have the virus.
"Can we touch it?"
"Touch it?
You want to touch it?"
The fact that the virus is passed from person-to-person is well known.
We've all been told that a sick person can infect someone else by coughing, sneezing,
or breathing on that person in close proximity.
But we also know that the virus can be picked up if someone touches an infected surface
and then touches their own mouth, eyes, or nose.
While surface-to-person transmission isn't exactly something that happens every day,
Canada's CTV News reports it is still a matter of concern.
CTV also says the coronavirus can live on cardboard for about 24 hours and on plastic
and stainless steel for as long as three days after the virus is smeared on those surfaces.
So what happens if we pick up groceries that some infected person has touched or sneezed
on?
If you're going to get groceries yourself, Oregon Health and Science University professor
of geriatrics Elizabeth Eckstrom tells The Guardian,
"As soon as you get there, use hand sanitizer, and touch only what you need to touch.
Wipe down your cart handle, and then use the hand sanitizer again."
If you're out and about, you should also try not to use your phone at all, or disinfect
it as soon as possible.
Whether you've done your own shopping or have chosen to get your groceries delivered, one
thing remains: The stress of getting home in one piece gets replaced with the stress
of what to do with those groceries once you get them inside the house.
Before anything else, Yale Medicine infectious disease doctor Jaimie Meyer says you need
to remember one thing:
"While the SARS-CoV-2 virus can theoretically live on inanimate surfaces for very long periods,
this does not mean that it is transmitted from person to person this way.
The primary mode of transmission is still person to person contact via droplets."
We've heard government agencies say that food supplies are all right.
The Food and Drug Administration says that the food chain is safe for both people and
animals, and that there is, quote, "no evidence of human or animal food or food packaging
being associated with transmission of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has also said that food and food packaging are safe.
Other doctors, like food microbiologist Donald Schaffner, tell The Guardian that there is
absolutely no need to go through the trouble of disinfecting your groceries.
He said,
"Right now there's no evidence that [the virus is] spread through food.
There's no evidence that it's spread through food packaging.
That doesn't mean that we might not learn new evidence tomorrow that would change our
thoughts on that, but right now that's what we believe."
Still, Colorado nurse and infection preventologist Lauren Bryan tells Health that if you want
to play it super safe, you can use a disinfectant wipe to clean plastic packaging and cereal
boxes, but there isn't a need to move the contents of a package into another container.
You may also want to wash both fruits and vegetables under running water, but by all
means, please don't use any household cleaners or disinfecting wipes on food.
If you do, Meyer said,
"...there's a higher chance of getting sick from ingesting [chemicals] rather than from
COVID-19."
Whether or not you choose to give your groceries an extra clean, Meyer says it's a good idea
to disinfect all your surfaces, from tables to countertops, with either a disinfecting
wipe, or some kind of cleaner which contains bleach.
It's a good habit to develop, as it's recommended by the experts that we should be doing this
a few times a day anyway.
And if you're really worried about contamination from food or food packaging, infectious disease
epidemiologist Julia Markus reminds us that hand washing is still the best defense.
She told The Guardian,
"Better than disinfecting, the thing we keep saying over and over again is to just wash
your hands."