So it’s 5pm. It’s been a long day of working from home, your state has begun re-opening, and you are thinking about what to do about dinner. Is it safe to order takeout? How can you do this as safely as possible?
We know in a controlled lab environment, the SARS-CoV-2 virus can stay on plastic and cardboard for hours. What we don’t know is if this is how people often get infected in the real world. The amount of virus on both these surfaces drops exponentially in the lab over time. We don’t know how much SARS-CoV-2 virus you need to be exposed to in order to get infected. When we’ve studied other ways of SARS-CoV-2 contamination of on surfaces in the hospital room of a COVID19 patient, it hasn’t always been there. What this means is we’re not 100% sure. So what do you do?
What is clear, is take out is much safer than eating out in a crowded restaurant with many other people shoulder to shoulder — especially if everybody isn’t wearing masks and you can’t stay 6 feet apart.
If you’ve decided to order take out, the question is then how you do it safely. The following infographic breaks it down step-by-step.
If you want to think about why this works, take a look back at our viral explainer. Among the key steps here is the timing of hand washing. Even if there is virus on the outside of the packaging and you get it on your hands, hand washing will eliminate it. As long as you do not touch your face before you do this, you really lower your risk.
You can’t eliminate all risk from COVID-19, but the key is to avoid high-risk exposures and mitigate what risks you need to take.
This issue was adapted from a post on the site available here. Please feel free to share your thoughts, questions, and concerns — you can get a hold of us via email, Twitter, Instagram, and the site itself. If you missed Monday’s issue on protest safety and ways you can help, you can find it here.