You just can't be careful enough - COVID

[Lisa Starr]

I have a friend with multiple underlying health conditions that makes COVID-19 especially dangerous. Due to this, She and her husband (both retired) have gone the extra mile to avoid contracting the virus. Online shopping or curbside pickup only. Neither of them have been in a store since March. All packages dropped by FedEx or UPS are put in garage by the driver and they retrieve the package with gloves to to wipe off and open it. No takeout food of any type and no visitors to their home, nor do they visit others. Only appointments kept are with their doctors and always masked. I don't believe that they are afraid as much as just trying to prevent a problem.

Despite all these precautions, they have just both tested positive of COVID-19. He is relatively "okay" and at home. She's in the hospital, which is over capacity, so her bed is in a hallway! Her doctor figures the only way they could have contracted the virus is that the groceries they get curbside must have been packaged by an asymptotic person with COVID.

I guess my take away from all of this is that it is apparently impossible to completely protect yourself from the virus.

[Mark Bolton]

THAT... is some freaky stuff. We have been, what we would consider, overly cautious from the get go but I always joked that one of us would likely be the ones to get it. Sounds like you cant get much heavier contact tracing than that scenario. Hope they get through it ok.

[Ted Calver]

Lisa, Thanks for posting this. My wife and I are both high risk and take all the precautions mentioned. Maybe we need to explore adding a UV decontaminating station to hit all those incoming packages and groceries with. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much more we can do. There are still plenty of people exercising their rights and spreading the virus. Until everyone is on the same page (unlikely) this sickness will continue. Even with the availability of vaccines, there are probably enough anti-vaxxers out there to ensure the virus stays around for a while. Retirement should not end up on a bed in the hospital hallway. Wishes for a speedy recovery for your friends.

[Kevin Jenness]

Does an asymptotic person have a pointy head?

Sorry about your friends. This definitely reinforces the need to minimize unnecessary contact. Here's hoping vaccines are made widely available soon.

[Jim Becker]

Very sad to hear this news about your friend and I hope they both recover successfully and without any of the whacko lingering side effects.

[Todd Trebuna]

It is virtually impossible to remove all risk. It is extremely possible to mitigate most risk. If you just think about a couple of different situations, you can see the futility of being worried about 100% risk mitigation. Door knobs, groceries, mail, mailbox etc. Assuming you can anticipate what has and hasn't been touched, you can mitigate most of that. The difficulty is you don't know what you don't know. And we don't know everything about this virus. Best wishes and prayers for a smooth recovery.

[Mark Bolton]

It is virtually impossible to remove all risk.

Anyone who would think they could remove _all risk_ is an absolute idiot. The village idiot knows your just making the safest decisions you can but there is always some risk. The boy in the plastic bubble had risk. The most secure labs on the planet have risk.

[Ron Citerone]

Must be disappointing to go to extreme safety precautions and still get infected. One thought is that perhaps you are less likely to get a heavy viral load and a severe case by being as safe as you can?

One thing for sure, going to a restaurant, after going to the gym and then ending your night at a pub is really pushing your luck IMO. Better to grill a steak, go for a walk and polish off that bottle of Jameson in the cabinet! 🥃

[Jim Koepke]

Lisa, hope and prayers for your friends to recover.

We are still living with the problem of too many people who believe this is a conspiracy to rob us of our rights.

If we can not all get with the program we will have to live with this malady with us for a while.

jtk

[glenn bradley]

Wait, (read with sarcasm) I heard on the news today that there isn't really a COVID pandemic. The guy seemed really sure of himself. . .

Try telling this to people who are lying in the hallways of hospitals, right? Hope your friends make out OK.

[Brian Tymchak]

Wait, (read with sarcasm) I heard on the news today that there isn't really a COVID pandemic. The guy seemed really sure of himself. . .

Must have been one of the Ohio legislators wanting to impeach our governor (of the same party no less) for putting restrictions on bars, etc last Spring.

Lisa, I hope your friend pulls through quickly.

[Tony Zona]

The best to your friends, Lisa.

I’m betting I have been inside the same grocery they used for pickup. And, we, too, are trying to be so careful.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Lisa,

I hope your friends recover quickly and completely.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Saw on the news this morning. A nurse who was in hospital with Covid, got it from her mother. Her mother had given someone a ride, and they were the carrier. Whole family of eight now has Covid, with father dying from it, just because of an act of kindness. You can't be too careful. Praying for their recovery.

[Lee Schierer]

Lisa, we wish your friends well.

Your friends sound like my wife and I. We have been doing all the same things as your friends since March as well. We just got groceries at curbside today and we wiped everything down, as we normally do with a sanitizer solution. All bottled products get sprayed with a bleach solution and left to sit for at least 10 minutes before rinsing.