The Virus - Are You Affected?

[Loren Pechtel]

I've been wiping down my mail with rubbing alcohol to disinfect it. I heard someone suggest that money, mail, and other paper objects can be disinfected by placing them in an oven set at 165 F or higher. That seems to make sense. I also carry around an 8 ounce spray bottle with 70% alcohol to mist door knobs and such.

A simpler but slower approach I have been using: The bug can't live 24 hours on cardboard, I would assume it's the same for paper as cardboard is basically just heavy paper. Mail and packages get brought in to the garage and set down for 24 hours (or longer if there is any plastic involved as the bug can live 48 hours on plastic.) I then wash up.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Well, that’s CA on lockdown. Newsom doing a bit of grandstanding I think.

Locking down California is going to do incredible damage to the economy. It is a desperate measure to stop the virus from spreading more.

We are seeing the numbers rise exponentially across America (and that is tracking initial infection a week or two ago) and we lack the testing kits to actually demonstrate how bad it has actually spread. The time to take action was a couple weeks ago... when Sen. Burr was selling off his stocks.

 

[bleubird]

Bars and restaurants are closed in AK.I work at a liquor store.Thing could get crazy for a while!

 

[Copernicus]

Wiping down mail or leaving it sit for 24 hours is unnecessary. Just wash your hands thoroughly after opening and reading it. The problem is touching infected surfaces and then touching your face without washing hands. The aerosol spread of the virus doesn't usually travel more than six feet, so stay six feet away from others when possible. It isn't that difficult to prevent transmission, but most people still aren't in the habit of taking precautions or just don't know what to do.

 

[crazyfingers]

Went to the grocery today to get a few items. They are now limiting the number of people in the store at one time. We waited in line outside. Everyone was keeping good distance. The line took about 5 minutes. No bit deal. While paper goods and bottled water were cleaned out but all the other stuff was stocked OK.

I still don't get hording paper goods and bottled water. The water especially around here where the town tap water is good.

 

[ZiprHead]

GameStop Claims to Be ‘Essential Retail’ to Stay Open During Lockdowns

We can’t blame you for using your newly increased time indoors to play more video games. We can’t even blame you if you’re using social distancing as an excuse to stay in and game when that’s what you would’ve been doing anyway. But we can blame GameStop for trying to keep its stores open during the coronavirus pandemic by calling itself “essential retail,” Kotaku reports. The gaming site obtained a memo sent to store managers that says, “Due to the products we carry that enable and enhance our customers’ experience in working from home, we believe GameStop is classified as essential retail and therefore is able to remain open during this time.” The memo goes on to say that cities have tried to close GameStop locations during lockdowns, and says store managers should tell police to call GameStop’s headquarters if they’re trying to close a store.

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Wiping down mail or leaving it sit for 24 hours is unnecessary. Just wash your hands thoroughly after opening and reading it. The problem is touching infected surfaces and then touching your face without washing hands. The aerosol spread of the virus doesn't usually travel more than six feet, so stay six feet away from others when possible. It isn't that difficult to prevent transmission, but most people still aren't in the habit of taking precautions or just don't know what to do.

If someone coughs in the air, it take 3 hours for the virus to hit the ground/disperse/die. So even walking 6 feet away, a supermarket where people coughed in last few hours is dangerous. All public places other than home, because you don't have confidence in who is infected, are risky. You hope infected people cough into their elbows but often they get caught off guard with a cough...

 

[Don2 (Don1 Revised)]

Connecticut, my state, has been shut down.

 

[The Colourful Jester]

Had a very brief power outage which made me wonder how things like that will hit us.

 

[Copernicus]

Wiping down mail or leaving it sit for 24 hours is unnecessary. Just wash your hands thoroughly after opening and reading it. The problem is touching infected surfaces and then touching your face without washing hands. The aerosol spread of the virus doesn't usually travel more than six feet, so stay six feet away from others when possible. It isn't that difficult to prevent transmission, but most people still aren't in the habit of taking precautions or just don't know what to do.

If someone coughs in the air, it take 3 hours for the virus to hit the ground/disperse/die. So even walking 6 feet away, a supermarket where people coughed in last few hours is dangerous. All public places other than home, because you don't have confidence in who is infected, are risky. You hope infected people cough into their elbows but often they get caught off guard with a cough...

The medical experts interviewed on TV and in the news are largely contradicting that. For example, Dr. Fauci said that the aerosol properties of this virus don't usually go beyond about six feet, because the droplets in the air are heavy. There is some evidence that smaller droplets can last longer and travel farther, but it appears to be rare. Generally speaking, the main danger is from virus-laden droplets landing on surfaces, which people subsequently touch. Experiments have shown that the virus lasts longer on some surfaces than others, but touch is the main vector of contagion. So face masks are mostly unnecessary, unless you are in close quarters with other people or are exposed regularly to people with the virus. They are good for stopping the spread to other people when an infected person wears a mask.

UV light destroys the virus, so it helps to decontaminate surfaces by exposing them to direct sunlight.

I went shopping for food today. In the frozen vegetable aisle, I spotted a man who had removed his face mask, because he had to cough and sneeze. Needless to say, we didn't buy any frozen vegetables in that store. Apparently, the man was wearing a mask for self-protection, and he felt uncomfortable coughing and sneezing with the mask on.

 

[crazyfingers]

I spotted a man who had removed his face mask, because he had to cough and sneeze. Needless to say, we didn't buy any frozen vegetables in that store. Apparently, the man was wearing a mask for self-protection, and he felt uncomfortable coughing and sneezing with the mask on.

Apparently the man was completely clueless on what the mask is actually good for. It's to stop droplets that come from coughs and sneezes - his own! It can't filter out any tiny viruses floating around in the air which they generally aren't doing anyway. The guy needs a kick in the head.

 

[Copernicus]

Just got the results back for my wife's coronavirus test. As we expected, they were negative. So we can leave the house without risk of infecting others.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Ohio is primarily shut down. Glad I live where I do, so hiking is still a viable option.

 

[marc]

One advantage we have is a 24hr pharmacy right around the corner. Just heard it was closed due to an employee testing positive...

 

[barbos]

Just got the results back for my wife's coronavirus test. As we expected, they were negative. So we can leave the house without risk of infecting others.

I thought it was impossible to get tested in US unless you had symptoms

 

[barbos]

Wiping down mail or leaving it sit for 24 hours is unnecessary. Just wash your hands thoroughly after opening and reading it. The problem is touching infected surfaces and then touching your face without washing hands. The aerosol spread of the virus doesn't usually travel more than six feet, so stay six feet away from others when possible. It isn't that difficult to prevent transmission, but most people still aren't in the habit of taking precautions or just don't know what to do.

If someone coughs in the air, it take 3 hours for the virus to hit the ground/disperse/die. So even walking 6 feet away, a supermarket where people coughed in last few hours is dangerous. All public places other than home, because you don't have confidence in who is infected, are risky. You hope infected people cough into their elbows but often they get caught off guard with a cough...

Terminal velocity for a 2 micron water droplets in the air at sea level is 0.213 meter/second
So it would take 10 seconds to hit the ground. But it's a very small droplet, bigger ones will fall faster.

 

[bilby]

Wiping down mail or leaving it sit for 24 hours is unnecessary. Just wash your hands thoroughly after opening and reading it. The problem is touching infected surfaces and then touching your face without washing hands. The aerosol spread of the virus doesn't usually travel more than six feet, so stay six feet away from others when possible. It isn't that difficult to prevent transmission, but most people still aren't in the habit of taking precautions or just don't know what to do.

If someone coughs in the air, it take 3 hours for the virus to hit the ground/disperse/die. So even walking 6 feet away, a supermarket where people coughed in last few hours is dangerous. All public places other than home, because you don't have confidence in who is infected, are risky. You hope infected people cough into their elbows but often they get caught off guard with a cough...

Terminal velocity for a 2 micron water droplets in the air at sea level is 0.213 meter/second
So it would take 10 seconds to hit the ground. But it's a very small droplet, bigger ones will fall faster.

But an updraft of 0.213m/s isn't uncommon or unlikely, and in such an updraft, the 2 micron droplets can remain suspended indefinitely.

 

[barbos]

Terminal velocity for a 2 micron water droplets in the air at sea level is 0.213 meter/second
So it would take 10 seconds to hit the ground. But it's a very small droplet, bigger ones will fall faster.

But an updraft of 0.213m/s isn't uncommon or unlikely, and in such an updraft, the 2 micron droplets can remain suspended indefinitely.

It would have to be exactly 0.213m/s otherwise it would take it up 1000 meters and then flow away into Australia.

 

[ruby sparks]

Just got the results back for my wife's coronavirus test. As we expected, they were negative. So we can leave the house without risk of infecting others.

Up to a point. If you touch something with your hand that has the virus on it, you could pick it up on your hand, and if you then later touch something else that someone else then touches with their hand, you could pass it on.

I read that use of petrol pump handles, for example, have been spreading the virus in this way, though obviously it could be anything. Yesterday, my wife and daughters and I braved a walk on a beach, and my daughter (a biologist) chided me for handling a gate latch on a path gate after I had let a jogger through who handled the latch just before me.

 

[Jokodo]

Just got the results back for my wife's coronavirus test. As we expected, they were negative. So we can leave the house without risk of infecting others.

Up to a point. If you touch something with your hand that has the virus on it, you could pick it up on your hand, and if you then later touch something else that someone else then touches with their hand, you could pass it on.

I read that use of petrol pump handles, for example, have been spreading the virus in this way, though obviously it could be anything. Yesterday, my wife and daughters and I braved a walk on a beach, and my daughter (a biologist) chided me for handling a gate latch on a path gate after I had let a jogger through who handled the latch just before me.

I'm getting pretty good at handling things with my elbows and/or with the sleeve pulled over the hand.