# Grocery handling in the time of COVID **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [July 26, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397 "2020-07-26T16:05:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/41 "2020-07-27T19:17:06Z")
I go shopping every week or two. When I get the store ads on Wednesday I decide if there’s anything I need or want to pick up because it’s on sale, and if there is I call EZRider and arrange to be taken to the store on Thursday (so I can take advantage of the senior discount). I bring my own bags, which I have to load myself. The store has someone wiping down the carts so I don’t need to worry about that. My only high-risk factor is my age. Obviously I always wear a mask in public, but I’m willing to take my chances with not wiping down everything from outside. My paranoia level isn’t that high. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/42 "2020-07-27T19:22:15Z")
[From the Atlantic](https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/scourge-hygiene-theater/614599/?fbclid=IwAR3GhbMFIDaS8OtDhB152VerGcDjPznozI4r9iYiuimMWLxlbSHYXu38Vps): > Surface transmission—from touching doorknobs, mail, food-delivery packages, and subways poles—seems quite rare. ( _Quite rare_ isn’t the same as _impossible_ : The scientists I spoke with constantly repeated the phrase “people should still wash their hands.”) ---
**Author:** ![RealityCheck71](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitycheck71/32/3493_2.png) [@RealityCheck71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityCheck71)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/43 "2020-07-27T19:26:40Z")
So is it “meteor hits my house” rare? Or what? ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/44 "2020-07-27T20:25:21Z")
> [@RealityCheck71](#): > > So is it “meteor hits my house” rare? Or what? I think that’s hard to say, because when someone has Covid, it’s usually really hard to tell exactly how they got infected. I don’t remember hearing or reading of any cases where the only way, or even the most plausible way, the person could have gotten infected was by touching a surface. Anyone? As that _Atlantic_ article (which is very good and worth reading) says: > [@](#): > > As a thousand internet commenters know by heart, _absence of evidence is not evidence of absence_ . But with hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of scientists around the world tracing COVID-19’s chains of transmission, the extreme infrequency of evidence may indeed be evidence of extreme infrequency. ---
**Author:** ![RealityCheck71](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitycheck71/32/3493_2.png) [@RealityCheck71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityCheck71)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/45 "2020-07-27T20:32:28Z")
Yes. Similar to the internet adage “you can’t prove a negative”. Sometimes the question “is there an elephant in this room?” can be given a confident answer of “no”. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/46 "2020-07-27T21:27:37Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The thing I don’t get is that they still won’t bag my groceries if I bring my own bags. My bags are probably cleaner than half the stuff they’re picking up and running across the scanner, but whatevs. They have no way of knowing how clean your particular bags are. > [@Shoeless](#): > > maybe it’s the passive-agressive part of me that has decided that if they don’t want to bag my groceries, fine… But don’t expect me to bust my ass bagging them when there is someone waiting behind me in line.) And punishing the person(s) waiting behind you in line by bagging slowly, if that’s what you’re doing, doesn’t even inflict your annoyance on somebody with any say in the matter (not that the clerk probably has any say in store policy, either.) ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [July 27, 2020, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/47 "2020-07-27T23:49:30Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > The thing I don’t get is that they still won’t bag my groceries if I bring my own bags. Yeah, my local supermarket won’t either. If you use their bags, fine. If you bring your own, as we’re all encouraged to do in NYC, they won’t. OK, fine, whatever, doesn’t really matter. I put everything in my bag, pay and leave. ---
**Author:** ![Helena330](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/helena330/32/531_2.png) [@Helena330](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Helena330)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/49 "2020-07-28T05:07:55Z")
> [@RealityCheck71](#): > > Well, I was wondering how @xanthous partner/ housemates might feel about these procedures. Driving your wife up the wall is a downside consideration. 😘 I forgot to quote in my post which will be deleted. In the OP, **xanthous** said “we” regarding household procedures dealing with groceries, so they’re OK with at least one other person in the home. ---
**Author:** ![RealityCheck71](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitycheck71/32/3493_2.png) [@RealityCheck71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityCheck71)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/50 "2020-07-28T11:19:23Z")
That’s why I asked. The other half might not love this even if they are going along. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/51 "2020-07-28T11:32:36Z")
> [@xanthous](#): > > What’s your grocery handling process (and local Covid severity)? Is it to the level described above, or do you take minimum precautions other than hand-washing after handling your purchases? Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since March, we’ve been getting all of our groceries delivered. They arrive on our front porch, and I haul them inside, putting the bags on the floor just inside the front door. Produce/meats come out of the potentially tainted grocery bags, and gets put into other plastic grocery bags that we’ve had on hand for a while (so they’re virus-free). My wife, with clean hands, holds the clean bags open while I drop the food in, so those bags stay clean on the outside when they’re put in the fridge. Generally speaking, we don’t touch this stuff for a few days. Anything not needing refrigeration stays where it is, bagged on the floor, for a few days. We both wash hands when we’re done with this. AIUI, surfaces self-decontaminate after some time: paper/cardboard after a day, plastics after a few days. I recognize that this process may take longer in the fridge/freezer, and that’s fine. When we eat raw produce - apples peaches, cabbage, etc. - we wash it and then peel it, further reducing our exposure (not a COVID practice; we’ve always done this). Our practices are imperfect, but (I think) adequate. Wife and I are generally healthy, but we’re definitely middle-aged, so our risk of complications/death if we contract COVID is elevated. The risk of contracting COVID from groceries is fairly low; our practices certainly aren’t zeroing our risk, but I’m pretty sure we’re taking it a good bit lower. ---
**Author:** ![tofor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tofor/32/13727_2.png) [@tofor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tofor)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/52 "2020-07-28T11:53:34Z")
As the OP of the mail thread you mentioned, I should probably weigh in. I asked about mail to simplify things, but we’ve been treating mail and groceries very similarly. Anything that needs refrigeration gets washed as best as possible, everything else gets left in the van for 5 days. Items we need sooner gets washed, or opened and the contents dumped out. After my mail thread, I was convinced that mail quarantine is probably unnecessary, but we will continue to keep mail in the garage for two days out of an abundance of caution. We haven’t been grocery shopping since then, but I expect to follow a similarly reduced regimen next time we go. ---
**Author:** ![RealityCheck71](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitycheck71/32/3493_2.png) [@RealityCheck71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityCheck71)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/53 "2020-07-28T12:05:40Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > The risk of contracting COVID from groceries is fairly low; our practices certainly aren’t zeroing our risk, but I’m pretty sure we’re taking it a good bit lower. Has anyone on the planet contracted covid-19 from their groceries? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/54 "2020-07-28T13:58:47Z")
> [@RealityCheck71](#): > > Has anyone on the planet contracted covid-19 from their groceries? Dunno. But until public health officials tell me that this virus just doesn’t last longer than a few minutes on surfaces, I’ll keep quarantining items that strangers have recently handled. Imagine someone with a known COVID-19 infection hands you a box of mac and cheese. Would you feel comfortable cooking it immediately? Yes, the contents of the box will get cooked, but meanwhile you’re handling the box itself, and touching other things with your hands. Maybe scratching your nose or rubbing your eyes. I never used to worry about getting a cold or flu like this - they don’t leave you with permanent lung damage, and a flu shot cuts your odds anyway - but as bad as COVID can be, it seems reasonable to be a bit more defensive than one would be with those other viruses. ---
**Author:** ![RealityCheck71](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitycheck71/32/3493_2.png) [@RealityCheck71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityCheck71)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/55 "2020-07-28T14:05:42Z")
The flu can leave you with permanent lung damage, I’m afraid to say. If you need to do it to feel safe, ok, but saying you are significantly lowering your risk is without evidence. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/56 "2020-07-28T14:16:39Z")
> [@RealityCheck71](#): > > Has anyone on the planet contracted covid-19 from their groceries? The problem is that with most cases, there’s no way to pinpoint how or where it was contracted. So your question is moot. Has anyone ever contracted it from grocery cart handles? Who knows? While it seems like drastic overkill to me, people probably have an abundance of extra time nowadays anyway, so who cares if they take extra time for precautions? I would guess that the people who are taking these extra measures are the same people who are tend toward germophobia in the first place. It’s not hurting anybody. ---
**Author:** ![RealityCheck71](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitycheck71/32/3493_2.png) [@RealityCheck71](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityCheck71)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/57 "2020-07-28T14:19:46Z")
Well, it’s not hurting me but I have a feeling there’s a level where it’s not really healthy. The OP sure seems over that line. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/58 "2020-07-28T14:32:23Z")
I go to the store maybe once a month during this thing. I wear a mask in the store. I try to go as early in the morning as I can, like around 800a usually. I touch only what I have to. I take off my shoes and leave them out on the porch before coming into the house. I wash my hands right after coming into the house, then I put away my groceries, then I wash my hands again. That has seemed to be sufficient for me so far. Personally I agree the OP is going way overboard, but if that’s what makes them comfortable, then they should do whatever it is they think they have to. And as a former long time Safeway employee, I can assure you supermarkets are pretty gross to begin with, and you really should wash your hands after visiting one anyways, pandemic or no. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/59 "2020-07-28T14:48:16Z")
I go shopping less than once a week, more like every couple of weeks. I mostly shop at an open-air produce store which has a good breeze blowing through. I’ve recently started filling in stuff with Costco or grocery stores only if I can go first thing in the morning. I don’t do anything special with my groceries. I’m kind of shocked at how much stricter other people are, but I know enough people who think I’m going overboard - people who shop every other day, wear masks that are completely gapped at the nose and sides, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/60 "2020-07-28T15:07:47Z")
I didn’t say I deliberately bagged my groceries slowly. I said if they weren’t going to help then I wasn’t going to bust my ass to get them bagged myself. Big difference. Sometimes I will have them bag stuff in the store’s bags, then I’ll drop two or three of their bags into one of my tote bags. It’s faster than me bagging by myself, but also defeats the purpose of not collecting a huge pile of throw-away bags. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2020, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397/61 "2020-07-28T16:24:59Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > Imagine someone with a known COVID-19 infection hands you a box of mac and cheese. Would you feel comfortable cooking it immediately? I’d worry more about them breathing on me when they handed it to me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grocery-handling-in-the-time-of-covid/916397.md?page=4)