What are your specific rituals for navigating shopping and other essential public spaces?

The Quarantine Zone
1

Looking to tweak and see what I might be missing. Please share your rituals for containment / sterilization when going out. Doesn’t matter if you’re inner city or deep country. At SOME point you have to go to a store or pharmacy or other public use shared space.

What works for you? Here’s my ritual for shopping:

I’m in Astoria, Queens, NYC. Queens is the Epicenter of the Epicenter. I’ve been wearing gloves for 7 weeks now. A mask for perhaps 4. Here’s my ritual on going to the local Key Food. ( Typical inner city supermarket: VERY narrow aisles. ) I do not shop but every 4-5 days. In keeping the freezer filled with meats, our shopping bill runs around $ 120.00 per visit.

º Gloves and mask before leaving the house. Zip-Loc back of Lysol or Chlorox wipes in coat pocket.
º Take 2 reusable shopping bags. As of March 1, it’s the law in NYC anyway- COVID 19 irrespective.
º Shop slowly. No product goes into the cart. It all goes into the bag that are set up IN the cart. Second bag remains empty.
º No touching cell phone once I leave the house unless unavoidable. Immediately wipe down with Chlorox wipe.
º Approach self-checkout. Take out fresh wipe. Wipe down Nitrile gloves I’m wearing. Scrub- and I mean scrub hard back and forth- the Pre and Post and main scale/ scanner surfaces. Also, wipe down touch screen and keypad/ swiper used for payment. Now, I get some odd looks from people for doing this. They are cordially invited to go and fuck themselves. My method greatly reduces surface transfer of virus. No employee has ever tried to prevent me from sanitizing this most foul communally used area.
º Scan, pile into reusable shopping bag. Finish, pay. Wipe down credit card after use, put into wallet.
º Distribute product into both bags for ease of carrying.
º Roll cart out to sidewalk. Remove bags, head home.
º Get into building and up to 2nd floor landing. If my wife is not on a work Zoom call, she is the “catcher”. We keep a large spray bottle of Lysol on the floor outside of the door. I spray into pieces of paper towel and wipe down every package on all surfaces. Sloppy, wet, lots of fluid used. Then I place it into her catching bag. Slowly transfer all goods into the house. Her “catching” bag ( another large reusable shopping bag ) never leaves the house and hasn’t since well before COVID-19. It’s clean.
º Two large reusable shopping bags get wiped down, left outside of door in hallway.
º Remove coat, spray down. Leave on hanger outside door to dry out.
º Get to UV-C Sterilizing Box I’ve fashioned. Remove mask and HEPA filter insert. Place into UV-C Box. Remove gloves.
º For more than 6 weeks now, I’ve been using a Dobie Pad to scrub my hands and arms when returning to the apartment. Hot water, bar soap and LOTS of sudsing and scrubbing aggressively. Much more effective in my mind than just using your skin. 20 - 30 Seconds on both hands and arms. Rinse off.
º Take new Lysol or Chlorox wipe out. Wipe down outside of UV-C Box, since I was wearing gloves when I placed mask and HEPA filter into Box. Rinse off Lysol. Turn on box for 15-minute Decon.

From the moment I get to the apartment door to the moment I’ve plugged in the Box is no more than 10 minutes. More if I have to transfer the food into the “catcher” bag alone. But…I’ve not nothing but time.

People are mostly ignorant of spacing in our local Key Food. I’m pissed off that they have not made all aisles one-way. ( A brilliant and cost-free move that keeps people from moving past one another no more than 1-3 feet apart. ) I routinely back out of an aisle and hide against a display until people clear out where I want to go. Again, I am in NO rush and keep looking for people approaching from behind.

Outside of the food acquisition routine, just being ON the sidewalk is stressful. I walk into the street all the time to avoid some fuckwit selfish asshole who is wearing their mask resting protectively against their trachea. I avoid everyone in terms of 8 feet distancing, but the maskless wonders? They’re more and more arrogant and obnoxious in their glaring BACK at me as I look at them. They won’t wear a mask- which happens to be illegal in NYC now. You’re out? Have a mask on your neck. You approach others? Slip it up and on. People are simply not. They could give two shits.

Yes. It’s the Law of the Land in New York State right now.

2

I leave my phone at home so that I cannot accidentally use it. No big deal as I mostly go out without it anyway. I carry a pair of disposable gloves in my back pocket.

I leave home - 3rd floor flat/apartment and touch nothing, other than my doorknob, on the way downstairs and out of the building. At the front door I use my knee to open the door. One time I, out of habit, grabbed the railing as I walked downstairs. I turned around and went home, scrubbed up and started out again.

If I drive I touch bits of my car, otherwise I get to where I am shopping (only the supermarket or the chemist for the last several weeks) without touching anything.

At the supermarket I walk around with reusable bags, put stuff in one, transfer to the belt at Aldi (or scan myself at Woolworths), re-bag, pay and leave. I know exactly what I am getting. I don’t look around for anything. Again no big deal, I haven’t used a trolley shopping for over 20 years.

I walk or drive home. Get up to my flat, get inside, dump the bags, chuck my shirt in the machine scrub in and pack stuff away.

I am very adept at touching virtually nothing, other than the things that I buy and the checkout/payment surfaces. I am also confident that I do not touch my head or face, difficult though that is. The gloves are in case I “contaminate” myself. Say, for example, I thoughtlessly touched some risky surface or had to go to the toilet. I pull out the gloves and wear them for the rest of the outing and discard them at home. I only had them for cooking, a couple of hundred pairs for preparing chillies.

The whole thing sounds far more involved written out.

3

I live in far-flung 'burbs outside the DFW area. No sidewalks or public transport, just personal vehicles.

First, we limit trips as much as possible. We were well prepared for lockdowns etc. before the pandemic, so venture out only to avoid tapping too far into emergency* stocks. Therefore, any trips have a fairly large list and include perishables like milk, eggs, etc.

  • Ensure suitable coolers/ice to store perishables are onboard before leaving. (Often make multiple stops)
  • Ensure enough fresh N95 masks and gloves for everyone (used masks are relegated to lawn duty).
  • Park truck in isolated area of lot. Probably unnecessary, but I like solitude while loading.
  • Mask and glove up before exiting truck.
  • Select and disinfect a cart from the lot corral (not inside, this gives time and space to do it properly).
  • Separate with sublists and everyone grab their assigned objects.
  • Meet at checkout (our store has clearly marked six-foot separation lines there).
  • Bag our own groceries as they come down the slide from the cashier. No reusables, only single use plastic which are thrown away once home.
  • Quick load up in truck bed (covered and has wood partitions to stop sliding around). This limits the amount of “stuff” inside with us.
  • Deglove (carefully, using techniques to avoid contaminated outside and end up with one balled inside the other). No touching the door handles with gloves.
  • Inside truck, engine on (air conditioning = life support here, start it asap), then unmask.
  • Home and use relay to bring bags to designated “unclean” portion of counter, sanitize and store contained objects, then clean off countertop at finish.
  • Look around and say “Oh Shit, did anyone remember to get [thing]”. This always happens.

*The majority of our stocks are reserved for more serious grid down and/or supply chain interruptions. As long as we can replenish, we continue to do so.

4

I just wear a mask in public places and use hand sanitizer every time I enter the car. I try not to eat fruits that others may have handled for at least a day.

5

I only shop every two weeks, one store, I’m there when they open. Reusable bags are forbidden, tap to pay preferable, I wear a mask in the store. Use sanitizer back at the car. Mask goes into ziplock bag and is immediately hand washed once home.

And keeping hubs at home, that’s about it.

6

The only time I leave our property is to go to the grocery store every two weeks. I get in my car and drive over there. Put a mask on and grab two wipes. I wipe the cart down and throw that wipe away, then keep the other wipe handy. Get all my stuff. Reusable bags aren’t allowed. Cashier wipes down the payment pad and the conveyor belt. Load all my stuff and they bag (they’re not allowing customers to bag here). Load it all in the trunk and bring it inside to our kitchen counter myself. Wash every item with soap water or wipe with a clorox wipe if it can’t get wet. All bags are thrown away in the outside bin. Counter is wiped down with bleach spray. The time it takes me from the moment I get home to having everything put away and wiped down is about an hour.

For packages that come to my house, I dump them on our porch without touching the interiors. I throw away all the packaging in the outside bin. Wash my hands well then take a clorox wipe outside to wipe all items down. Then I bring them inside and clorox wipe all doorknobs, etc.

7

All I do is wear the cloth mask when I go into the store and that’s it.

8

So far, we have not had to visit any of the ‘essential’ places. Our groceries are delivered, as are our meds. My wife had a virtual doctor’s visit. So the only place that we go where there might be encounters with humans is on neighborhood walks. We do the sidewalk dance, crossing the street to avoid people and zigzagging through the 'hood when necessary. I see zero need to go to places of business.

9

I don’t even do that. No rituals. I did use the drive through at the pharmacy yesterday.

10

Our supermarket is cleaning the carts and the handscanners, so I don’t feel the need to do any of that. Payment is all contactless so cards stay in the wallet. Our supermarket is reasonably spacious and they took efforts to make it more so, limiting the number of people. Masks are not advised here (and I hate wearing them). With a little more patience to give everybody plenty of room I think it is safe enough so I don’t really worry about shopping anymore.

I’m more worried about tomorrow; kings day in Holland; Not for myself, but for what kinds of mischief my countrymen will get into on this traditionally quite anarchistic holiday.

11

I’ve been very fortunate in that I have an overstuffed pantry full of bean, rice, canned food, etc., so I rarely go out to a store. I go out every couple of weeks to an open-air produce stand near me, and wear a mask for the few minutes I’m there. I pick up the produce using my hand inside the supplied produce baggies. I’m careful not to touch anything with my bare hands that I’m not going to buy.

12

Please use a face covering to shop indoors. It’s not fair to the employees who work there to have to breathe in aerosolized germs of customers who think they’re exceptions to the “asymptomatic transmission” possibility. Their masks aren’t sufficient to protect them. Sneeze shields aren’t enough. Would you let unprotected people stream through your own house?

13

Since I don’t drive, I take advantage of the local Ex-Rider transportation provided for the disabled for my grocery runs. When the van arrives, I an waiting outside wearing my bandana face mask with my reusable bags. When I’m dropped off at the store there are pre-sanitized carts waiting inside; I take one and drop my bags into it, then go through the store as quickly as possible. Generally I have no problem social distancing, as the store isn’t that crowded. This also means that I generally don’t have to wait long, if at all at the check-out line.The store requires me to bag my own groceries since I brought my own bags, which I actually prefer anyway. Pay by credit card, which means no physical contact with the clerk. Then I go to the bench by the front door and take my bags out of the cart, take out my cell phone and call to let them know I’m ready to be picked up. Read while I’m waiting. When I get home I carry my groceries into the house and put them away.

I’m sorry, but I’m not so paranoid that I feel the need to sterilize everything I come into contact with.

14

Well, yesterday is the first time I’ve had to physically go into a public place. I wore a mask and safety glasses (with side shields), grabbed my stuff, used contactless payment, and didn’t touch anything except the merch with my non-dominant hand. Open the car, dump the goods, gel, go home, add the new string to the trimmer, finish the lawn.

I was already wearing my prescription safety glasses for the lawn work, but my employer is going to require glasses anyway, so it seems prudent to wear them when out and about.

15

This.

16

My approach is based on keeping the interior of my car contamination-free, and keeping any potential germs in the trunk. I also don’t want to have to clean my phone, wallet, etc.

So before leaving the house: I put my mask in the car, and a pair of gloves and one small zippie in the car for each store I plan to visit. And after stepping out the door, I put my wallet, phone, and house keys in a large zippie that goes in the glove compartment. My credit card is in my shirt pocket, which is where it stays when not being used.

When I get to the store, I pull on my gloves and mask, and put my car key in a zippie in my pants pocket, so that it doesn’t pick up store germs and bring them back into the car.

When I return to the car, I put all the groceries in the trunk. Before closing the trunk, I open the zippie that contains my car key, dump the key on the hood or roof of the car, toss the zippie in the trunk, then take my gloves off and toss them into the trunk. This way my hands and car key are clean and don’t contaminate the car. If I’m going to another store, I’ll continue wearing my mask; if not, I’ll dump it in the trunk before I take my gloves off.

When I get home, I get out of the car, wash my hands outside (I’ve got a tiny hand-washing station at each of the outdoor spigots), open the basement door where I’ve got a card table set up. I haul groceries in, put them on the card table, wash my hands again, close the basement door, take off my shoes, and get groceries out of their bags. There’s a chest freezer, a refrigerator, and a small pantry in the basement. I put the groceries in their appropriate location of these three places. I generally don’t take anything upstairs to the kitchen fridge or pantry for a day or so, to give any viruses some time to dissipate. (That probably doesn’t work on the stuff going into the fridge, and almost definitely doesn’t on the stuff going into the freezer. But you can only do so much.)

Then I take my clothes off and head directly to the bathroom where I wash my hands and take a shower.

All told, this is probably more complicated than it needs to be, and less foolproof than I’d like. But you can’t guarantee that you won’t get this thing - all you can do is reduce the likelihood as much as you reasonably can. Best way is to make as few trips out as possible, and I’m trying to keep mine to about once every week and a half.

17

Mine is pretty simple and therefore probably not completely effective.

I drive to the store alone. Before I get out of the car, I put on a clean mask and a pair of disposable nitrile gloves (fortunately I had those before this virus happened). I get a cart, go in the store, find my stuff, do self-checkout with a credit card (no need to touch the buttons when it’s under $50), put the items individually in the cart, push the cart out to my car. I peel off my right glove, dig out my key fob and unlock the car doors, pull out my grocery bags with my right hand, pick up my items with my left hand (still gloved) and put them in the bag, pick up the bag with my right hand and put it in the car. I then peel off my left glove, tossing both used inside-out gloves on the floor of the passenger side, then take off my mask. When I get home I throw the gloves in the trash and wash the mask while I’m washing my hands. That’s it. I don’t wash my clothes every time, I don’t even wipe off the food packages. We always washed produce before we use it, but we’re not any more careful about contamination per se than we used to be.

I know, it’s not logical or consistent. If I worry about stuff too much, I will always be thinking about that one light switch or door handle that I didn’t clean or touched without thinking. I can’t live like that. Maybe I’ll die like this, I don’t know, except I know there are no guarantees in life.

18

I sell online so have to randomly go to the Post Office to ship merchandise out. I try to make as few trips as possible, about every 4 days as of now. The store is once every 2 weeks unless my elderly parents need something and I run to town for them.
I wear the mask, pay credit, and try not to touch anything. I change my hoodie the moment I get home and leave my shoes at the door. Anything I bring home goes into a spare room for a few days. If I happen to get change it does as well.

19

We’ve moved from doing our big grocery run once a week to every two weeks.
We take turns going instead of going together.
We wear masks.
We wash our hands when we get home and have put the groceries away.

20

I have no ritual. I now have a fabric mask I can wear while shopping. Walmart has sanitation stations available for wiping down your cart, so I’ve used that. I don’t bother with gloves or hand sanitizer.