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Thread: Have your Covid Precautions changed since March?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Northern Oregon
    Posts
    1,818

    Have your Covid Precautions changed since March?

    I got super strict in March. Now as I learn more we're a little more relaxed.

    Only washing produce now. I was sterilizing all things that came in the house.
    No longer sterilizing door knobs and countertops daily.

    Still strict on:
    Wearing a mask around extended family outdoors in case a grandkid wants to jump in my lap. I made neck loops for my masks so I can drop them or mask-up quickly. If extended family comes in the house for more than a few minutes I mask-up or go in a separate room.
    Unfortunately as the weather changes I'll be doing this a lot.

    I've been wearing KN95 masks. They are just as comfortable the less protective masks. I want to prevent inhaling AND spreading virus.

    How's everyone here doing with this stuff lately?
    "Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t - you’re right."
    - Henry Ford

  2. #2
    I do about the same safe things. But I'm not as worried as I was in the beginning.

    I think I read that the N95 mask has a valve that allows the air from an exhale to exit without any filtering. As long as you don't have Covid that's not a problem.

    I think I saw that you can't use an N95 mask on an airplane because of the valve.

    Mike
    Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    Wayland, MA
    Posts
    3,651
    Pretty much the same, relying on hand washing alone now, don't wear gloves out much. 100% on masks.

    Since one of the key roles of masks is to stop infected but asymptomatic people from transmitting the virus, the valves that let unfiltered air out are a very bad idea. Please don't inadvertently infect your family, friends and neighbors. I suspect that if everyone were 100% mask and hand washing compliant and avoided indoor gatherings we could be rid of this thing in 8-10 weeks and get our economy back on the road. Sadly, folks haven't, and apparently won't, do it.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Waterford, PA
    Posts
    1,224
    Still wearing a mask any time I go into a store or other enclosed space except our son's home. He's as careful, or more careful than us, so we have minimal concern there. Still not going anywhere to eat and only order take out from 2 local places that I'm comfortable with the staff's precautions.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    SE PA - Central Bucks County
    Posts
    65,638
    Pretty much similar precautions...don't go out without a reason and most of the time Professor Dr SWMBO stays home for less exposure. She teaches via video. The masks she made are excellent and leverage disposable filters...I alternate two with weekly washing. We do take-out on Friday nights but do not eat at restaurants, even outside. I do the food shopping. Most other purchases get delivered. (I don't like food delivery because I like to personally select fresh veggies, fruits, meats, etc., and do a chunk of my meal planning while in the store based on "what's good" that week) We do have a "pod" with our younger daughter's boyfriend's family...they are every bit as cautious as we are. She stays there part of the week and he stays here occasionally. She does work in retail, but is cautious. Our older daughter, while not living with us now, works as a florist, but is careful. She's here twice a week for meals and to clean. (her second job to account for my paying part of her rent) She doesn't socialize so risk is reduced.
    --

    The most expensive tool is the one you buy "cheaply" and often...

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jan 2004
    Location
    Lewiston, Idaho
    Posts
    28,490
    I am using the same precautions. We have our own masks in both vehicles. We go to restaurants every week or two. Wear the masks except while eating in restaurants but we do wear the masks into the restaurants, out of restaurants and while ordering meals. We wear masks when shopping. We always social distance. Since this broke out, we have had two couples over for dinner (one couple at a time) but we are all the same age group, each of the couples has at least one member who has a preexisting condition that increases that persons risks and we are all extremely careful. I was happy this week to see more people wearing masks when I was grocery shopping and while in HD. We do have hand sanitizers in both cars and use it when entering the car after shopping or other business.
    Last edited by Ken Fitzgerald; 09-28-2020 at 12:48 PM.
    Ken

    So much to learn, so little time.....

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Sep 2014
    Location
    Northern Florida
    Posts
    638
    We haven't been in anyone else's house for 6 months and no one else has been in ours. We expect it to be another 6 months. That means we're not visiting family or anyone else unless it's outdoors and that's pretty limited. Any family events, happy or sad, are going to have to wait. Our age makes us very high-risk.

    We wear masks in public and we don't go anywhere we can avoid. I have not been able to find masks that seal adequately around my beard and have made my own (2 layers of t-shirt, one layer of special filter material). We carry hand sanitizer in the car and use it frequently.

    I have installed a window AC in one bedroom so we can isolate that room if we think one of us has been exposed or has the virus.

    We sterilize (bleach spray) groceries that seem more likely to collect particles from the air, such as milk, packages of meat and other things damp and exposed but rely on time to kill off any virus on most packages.

    It feels like "every man (or woman) for him/her self" in the war against this virus. There is good information about risks and precautions out there but you have to find and apply it for yourself.

  8. #8
    I wear always wear a mask when going indoors, and when grocery shopping, I've noted how much stuff I touch, so when shopping I always wear gloves too. I have a 'man purse' that contains my keys, phone, wallet, and sanitizer, goes everywhere I go. After pretty much every aisle I'll hand sanitize. Keeps me from getting or spreading.

    EVERYTHING that comes into this house gets disinfected. Loose customer parts, paperwork, cash, etc. gets sprayed with Lysol-type spray. Most groceries, boxes, bagged items or other 'covered' stuff, I dampen a towel then liberally spray it with Clorex disinfectant, and wipe it all down. I have a 2' square piece of copper sheet to set various loose items and fresh food on. Fresh veggies also get washed.

    Customers mask up or stay outside, no one has a problem. (except stubborn family members )

    All the recent spikes in cases and deaths have convinced us to keep up the barriers. We refuse to catch this crap if at all possible...
    ========================================
    ELEVEN - rotary cutter tool machines
    FOUR - CO2 lasers
    THREE- make that FOUR now - fiber lasers
    ONE - vinyl cutter
    CASmate, Corel, Gravostyle


  9. #9
    There are N95s without valves.

    I'm less cautious now about surface contamination, but otherwise not eating out, not hanging out inside with others, taking groceries and other necessities to my mom so she doesn't have to go out.
    I will vote by mail this year.

  10. #10
    I'm in Virginia and our gov. Has got it too. And at times he's even worn long robes and complete head covering.
    Real contagious stuff !

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    NE OH
    Posts
    2,612
    Still doing pretty much the same things as earlier: Always wear mask when out, except when walking the pooch; it's easy to avoid people on the trails we use. I wear disposable gloves when shopping, and do the clean hand dirty hand thing when transferring stuff into the car/truck. We still wipe down all the groceries. Haven't been in a restaurant since February but we get takeout once or twice a month. We did go to an event at a winery where we sat outdoors at widely spaced tables. My wife is mostly teaching her university students remotely but has taught a few in person classes (it's just unavoidable in the nursing/midwifery curriculums). And she continues to have to make site visits to various medical practices and hospitals to observe her students in action. She is required to take her temperature daily and log it online, and must wear both a face mask and a face shield when teaching or doing site visits. Students are required to wear masks and the classrooms have been rearranged to maintain separation between students.
    --I had my patience tested. I'm negative--

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
    Posts
    1,566
    I am teaching my patients all the same stuff with no changes since March. To get on my service they all have pre-existing conditions.
    1. Don't go out unless you have to.
    2. Wear a cloth mask when you do go.
    3. Stay six feet away from people who are also wearing masks.
    4. Stay as far away as possible from people who are not masked or are wearing their masks incorrectly. Just turn around and go the other way.
    5. Wash your hands.

    This summer my wife would occasionally walk with a friend at like the botanical garden and they would sometimes take their masks off while walking six feet apart but still side by side on the same trail. At the time our local infection rate was 5, 6 or 7 per 100,000 residents. We have been seeing a climbing case load since Mid July. I should be getting another weekly summary by email from the AK Dept of Health and Human Services this weekend, I think case numbers are still climbing locally, the last public data (last week's summary) the infection rate was 15.9 cases per 100,000 for Fairbanks.

    We crossed the magic statistical point (10 cases per 100k) in I think late July statewide, so Alaska is statisically an area of widespread disease transmission. I don't know if there is a statistical definition for rampant disease transmission, what the next statistical point is or what it is named, but we seem to be well on our way.

    We used to go to the grocery store 2-3 times per week. Our current target is two times each month, we usually end up going three times.

    In my mind, any group of people is a social gathering and an opportunity for disease transmission. Church, grocery shopping, backyard picnic, all opportunities for infection to spread. I readily agree indoor choir practice is probably more dangerous than golfing while social distancing.

    I never did disinfect my incoming mail for this thing - but I have decades of meticulous practice at hand hygiene.

    We do have a household decontamination area, the downstairs bathroom. When we get home we put all the clothes we were wearing in a laundry basket there and then take a shower before proceeding upstairs to what we think of as our safe zone.

    My opinion is we have another year of this to go, and that assumes a safe reliable vaccine being available in September 2021.

    EDIT: I did also buy my own prescription safety glasses this summer. The hospital I work for requires safety glasses and N95 mask for all patient interaction in my department, and in some circumstances we do the full body PPE like in the ET movie. But I wear bifocals, and the two pair of glasses thing was causing phyical pain. So with my employer's permission I got prescription safety glasses out of pocket so I am only wearing one pair of glasses at a time.
    Last edited by Scott Winners; 09-27-2020 at 7:09 PM.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    May 2015
    Location
    Ingleside, IL
    Posts
    1,417
    When this all started we bought a second freezer so we can shop once every 4 or 5 weeks. The last 2 or 3 weeks we miss fresh fruit. Mask all the time if going in somewhere. No one has been in the house except the furnace repair guy - and the LOML followed him around with the Lysol spray. (he's been doing our heating for years so he was cool with it), and my son, who quarantined for 3 weeks so he could come down here. The other kids have come down but we stayed outside. Everything that comes in the house gets sanitized. No exceptions. No restaurants - neither dine in nor carry out. The only time we have been in someone else's house was to use the can at my daughters place. We zoom a lot, and have regularly schedule dinner dates with our kids and grand kids. Dinner conversation has always been a big deal for us, and this is working pretty well. All things considered. And lots of Purell hand sanitizer.

    With our Gov opening the state (Indiana) we figure on changing nothing we're doing. Our little town has had 1 case that was asymptomatic, so it's around everywhere.

    And since I'm a grumpy old fart I have started, politely, challenging folks without masks, or who have their nose sticking out. When we were shopping a couple of months ago, we order some lunch meat and the gal that was cutting it finished up and then lowered her mask and sniffed it!! And she was upset that I said she could keep it. Unreal.

    We figure on doing everything we can to stay safe and healthy, and then if one of us gets it, them's the breaks. I'm celebrating my 36th year anniversary in AA and I have learned the hard way to not worry about what I can't control. All I can do is the right things, and everything else goes in the Bucket.
    Last edited by Keith Outten; 09-28-2020 at 9:49 AM.
    Stand for something, or you'll fall for anything.

  14. #14
    Kev, I hope you stay well, but I can't help but wonder if you have been conditioned by "clean up on aisle 5". "et al".

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Sep 2013
    Location
    El Dorado Hills, CA, USA
    Posts
    208
    Two changes for us:
    - We're getting take out food now, where before we had stopped all restaurant food. About once a week I go pick up take out and leave a big tip. Feels good trying to support the local restaurants (at least the ones we like
    - We have two hardwood stores in our area, one has decided masks are a waste of time, the other strictly wears them. So I have switched most of my buying to the one with masks.

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