Love in the Time of Rinderpest
Mar. 9th, 2020 08:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamshark Oh, DavE, how I miss you. You would have gotten the title reference. To the rest of you, it's just another way of saying I'm still posting about the coronavirus. As things evolve and more facts are available, I'm starting to see public advice that is more helpful than "The best way to protect yourself is to wash your hands," as well as a more nuanced approach to hand-washing. I've been putting together a health protocol for myself in the time of plague and trying to get in the habit of following it.
BEST and EASIEST ADVICE. Don't shake hands! This virus doesn't live very long on surfaces, but anybody who is sick is going to have it on their hands. Because the 2nd best advice is also practically speaking impossible.
2nd BEST and HARDEST ADVICE. Don't touch your face. This is usually followed by a long article citing studies about how often people unconsciously touch their faces, rub their eyes or noses, touch their mouths, etc (about 20 times/minute I think). Sure, people, don't touch your face. Good luck with that. But assume that anybody you might be shaking hands with probably has touched their face 20 times in the last minute and proceed accordingly.
COUGH INTO YOUR ELBOW
This one is hard for me because I learned to cover my mouth with my hand as a child when I coughed or sneezed and am having a really hard time unlearning it. It's complicated by the fact that after my first fall/winter cold I end up with a dry cough and slightly drippy nose that lasts all winter and usually well into the early spring pollen season. This alone is going to make me into a pariah in the Time of Rinderpest, I'm afraid. But at the very least, I am trying to remember to cough into my elbow.
WASH YOUR HANDS
Washing your hands is good basic hygiene, and certainly the best way to avoid SPREADING germs (especially food-borne microbes and things like norovirus that thrive on surfaces). Under most circumstances, I don't see it doing much to protect the hand washer from infection, although I suppose it can't hurt. Washing your hands in a public bathroom probably does more harm than good in that regard, although if you're in there already for *ahem* other reasons you might as well go through the whole "lather up for 20 seconds" routine. But if you don't want to just infect your hands again the second you touch the door handle on the way out you need to take additional precautions (use a paper towel or your elbow or something).
One idea that I picked up from a couple of people right here in this forum (but have not actually seen anywhere in the Public Health Advice) is to wash your hands thoroughly when you come home (from work, shopping, whatever). I haven't ever done that unless I'd been doing something unusually grimy, but I'm starting to do it now. That might actually help protect you, the hand washer.
USE SANITIZING WIPES
In public spaces hand washing is rarely practical, and it irritates the heck out of me to see all the official advice that ends with "use hand sanitizer if you must, but washing your hands is SO MUCH MORE effective." Sure, if you're at home! If I had any sanitizing wipes I would use them primarily to wipe down objects in public spaces: airline tray tables, bathroom door handles, shopping cart handles, etc. Maybe my credit card after someone else had handled it. And a few things at home, like the bathroom sink when there are people visiting or sick people in the house.
Since I'm clearly not the first person to think of this, you can't buy alcohol wipes right now, so I made my own. I'd rather have some actual travel wipes to take with me to the airport, but in the absence of such I have soaked some cotton cosmetic pads in a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and aloe vera gel and will carry them in a ziplock bag. I think I can get through TSA with that.
ACTUALLY BEST AND ABSOLUTELY HARDEST ADVICE
Don't go out. Don't travel, don't go to parties or conventions, don't take public transportation. It sounds like a little light shopping at non-busy times is probably not a great infection risk (assuming you wipe down the shopping cart handles with alcohol). But anything social? Right out. The greatest danger is being in closed spaces with other people for an extended period of time. Outdoors exposures are less dangerous unless it is really crowded. The official definition of "close contact" seems to be "within a 6 foot proximity of an infected person for more than 10 minutes."
I am not following this last advice (yet). I am in fact, getting on an airplane tomorrow and flying to Oregon, which is an emerging nexus of infection. It's not that bad yet, there or here, and I think we'll be okay. But I suspect we'll be cancelling our May trip. And I am increasingly concerned about attending Minicon. I think about a 50/50 chance at this point, depending on how community spread evolves in the next few weeks.
BEST and EASIEST ADVICE. Don't shake hands! This virus doesn't live very long on surfaces, but anybody who is sick is going to have it on their hands. Because the 2nd best advice is also practically speaking impossible.
2nd BEST and HARDEST ADVICE. Don't touch your face. This is usually followed by a long article citing studies about how often people unconsciously touch their faces, rub their eyes or noses, touch their mouths, etc (about 20 times/minute I think). Sure, people, don't touch your face. Good luck with that. But assume that anybody you might be shaking hands with probably has touched their face 20 times in the last minute and proceed accordingly.
COUGH INTO YOUR ELBOW
This one is hard for me because I learned to cover my mouth with my hand as a child when I coughed or sneezed and am having a really hard time unlearning it. It's complicated by the fact that after my first fall/winter cold I end up with a dry cough and slightly drippy nose that lasts all winter and usually well into the early spring pollen season. This alone is going to make me into a pariah in the Time of Rinderpest, I'm afraid. But at the very least, I am trying to remember to cough into my elbow.
WASH YOUR HANDS
Washing your hands is good basic hygiene, and certainly the best way to avoid SPREADING germs (especially food-borne microbes and things like norovirus that thrive on surfaces). Under most circumstances, I don't see it doing much to protect the hand washer from infection, although I suppose it can't hurt. Washing your hands in a public bathroom probably does more harm than good in that regard, although if you're in there already for *ahem* other reasons you might as well go through the whole "lather up for 20 seconds" routine. But if you don't want to just infect your hands again the second you touch the door handle on the way out you need to take additional precautions (use a paper towel or your elbow or something).
One idea that I picked up from a couple of people right here in this forum (but have not actually seen anywhere in the Public Health Advice) is to wash your hands thoroughly when you come home (from work, shopping, whatever). I haven't ever done that unless I'd been doing something unusually grimy, but I'm starting to do it now. That might actually help protect you, the hand washer.
USE SANITIZING WIPES
In public spaces hand washing is rarely practical, and it irritates the heck out of me to see all the official advice that ends with "use hand sanitizer if you must, but washing your hands is SO MUCH MORE effective." Sure, if you're at home! If I had any sanitizing wipes I would use them primarily to wipe down objects in public spaces: airline tray tables, bathroom door handles, shopping cart handles, etc. Maybe my credit card after someone else had handled it. And a few things at home, like the bathroom sink when there are people visiting or sick people in the house.
Since I'm clearly not the first person to think of this, you can't buy alcohol wipes right now, so I made my own. I'd rather have some actual travel wipes to take with me to the airport, but in the absence of such I have soaked some cotton cosmetic pads in a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and aloe vera gel and will carry them in a ziplock bag. I think I can get through TSA with that.
ACTUALLY BEST AND ABSOLUTELY HARDEST ADVICE
Don't go out. Don't travel, don't go to parties or conventions, don't take public transportation. It sounds like a little light shopping at non-busy times is probably not a great infection risk (assuming you wipe down the shopping cart handles with alcohol). But anything social? Right out. The greatest danger is being in closed spaces with other people for an extended period of time. Outdoors exposures are less dangerous unless it is really crowded. The official definition of "close contact" seems to be "within a 6 foot proximity of an infected person for more than 10 minutes."
I am not following this last advice (yet). I am in fact, getting on an airplane tomorrow and flying to Oregon, which is an emerging nexus of infection. It's not that bad yet, there or here, and I think we'll be okay. But I suspect we'll be cancelling our May trip. And I am increasingly concerned about attending Minicon. I think about a 50/50 chance at this point, depending on how community spread evolves in the next few weeks.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-10 03:09 am (UTC)Not that that changes any of your conclusions.
Not shaking hands is not as easy as you might think. We all (in physics-land, I can't speak for any other vocation) just do it without thinking about it when we meet a new colleague. I did it this morning. By the time you think, whoops, coronavirus, you've already done it.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-10 04:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-10 04:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-10 08:25 am (UTC)I'm learning so much googling the cornavirus (masks are good for containing virus spread - but only if everyone wears them! Otherwise you don't need masks so stop buying them, but if you care for people who are sick at home, don't do it without a mask! Gloves are useless! The government expects new cases over the next three months! COVID-19 only becomes severe/can turn critical and cause pneumonia *if* it spreads to the lungs, in most cases it stays confined to the upper respiratory tract! Pre-existing high blood pressure worsens outcomes and is actually equivalent to other risk factors such as being elderly!) that I'm hesitant to post much more on my own journal for fear of freaking everyone out or simply driving them off, but I'm still tempted.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-10 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-03-11 02:55 am (UTC)K.
no subject
Date: 2020-03-11 02:57 am (UTC)K.