Food and contamination

Posted , 3 users are following.

hello. i threw something away and just touchwd my backyard trash lid. i dont recall but i may have touched some chips my damily eats wirhout washing my hands after. how likely is it that theyll be ok even if eg my mom whos really healthy ate some chips? i dont wanna worry about someone bing sick. also how likely is covid from this?

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • Posted

    Hi its a really stressful time at the moment for everyone young and old alike,, if you only took some chips out of the dish and didn't touch the others then it want be an horrendous problem so try not too worry unduly.

    A few things to that increase the risk will be if someone else had previously touched your bin who is contaminated with the virus and they touched your bin after sneezing or coughing on their hands, even then the chance of contamination is probably low.

    Try to remember to wash your hands well whenever you can especially when you have been out of your home and into the environment,, don't touch your facial areas and when you do wash your hand the best way is with ordinary block soap,, their are loads of videos online that show you how to do it correctly.

    If you want make it your job to wash the exterior handles / lid of the bin daily to make sure you lessen the risk for your family.

    As I said try not too worry just remember to wash your hands and eventually it will become second nature

    Take care and stay safe

  • Posted

    Ultraviolet rays from the sun kill the virus. So even if someone with the virus touched your dustbin outside an hour before you did the sunlight would have killed the virus. If I get a delivery I leave it outside in the sunlight for a couple of hours before taking it in the house to be safe. You should be washing your hands after touching the trash can lid for other reasons though, flies who are full of germs go on them also animals can fly or climb on them. There are other things I would worry about before covid! Just always wash your hands properly before eating or putting your hands near or on your face.

    With regards to how safe is your mother if she caught the virus, if she is under 60 with no underlying health issues and is fit and healthy, she should be OK. Make sure you and your family take vitamin D to keep your immune systems strong, that is what the doctors are recommending.

  • Posted

    Sorry but you are wrong regarding the sun having the ability to kill the covid-19 virus with in an hour,, the virus will still be live on plastics etc for upwards of 72 hours and on some surfaces even longer, obviously the viral load will decrees the longer it's on the item but because it is a novel virus not enough is known about it yet to know the longest it can survive.

    It can even survive in your refrigerator hence the reason items brought into the home should be wiped with antibacterial wipes or soap based spray

    • Posted

      if the trash can was in my backyard though how safe do u think it is? the last time that trash can was up front was 3 days ago before this incident. how likely do you think it is someone snuck in my back with covid and touched the trash can lid?

    • Posted

      I would say the liklihood is 0 and if it hadn't been out on the front of your property for at least 3 days then its past the 72 hours anyway,,

      I'm a bit OCD regarding this virus but in your circumstances I would not be worried,, you didn't say to begin with that the bin was not on your front,, ours is on the front all the time but only the bin men have access to it and I spray it every week just to be sure.

      Try not to be too worried about the virus and as I said before hand washing is the best defense against it

    • Posted

      just to be clear: what would the likelihood be if it was 2 days instead of 3? im worried it may have been only 2 days.

    • Posted

      So I read that the covid 19 virus dies fastest when it is exposed to direct sunlight. So if I leave my package outside in the sun for a couple of hours and then bring it into my house even if there still is a bit of virus on there, the likelihood of it being strong enough to infect me is very low, but I still wash my hands and use alcohol gel before and after touching it in case there are other germs on it. If I am honest, I always washed my hands before and after touching things from outside because you don't know what germs are on them. They originally said it would be 72 hours before the virus would die on surfaces like metals and hard plastics but then changed it to 48, I am assuming that is in a cool area. Softer surfaces like cardboard and paper is about 12 hours. Viruses are likely to stay alive in lower temperatures and lower humidity like in fridges and freezers, so like you, I spray everything I bring into the house with antibacterial spray or run it under a hot tap depending on what it is from the supermarket. The whole point I was trying to make was, you should be hygienic whether there is a covid 19 virus or not because there are always things you can catch. By the way, a virologist on the television is saying the statistics of people dying from this virus this year is no different from a bad strain of the flu.

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