According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the COVID-19 virus is spreading from person to person through close contact and respiratory droplets from coughing or sneezing.  Most states have enacted “shelter-in-place” mandates to limit social gatherings and hopefully lessen the number of people who become infected.

However, even in isolation, we all still need to acquire basic goods including food.  A big question everyone is asking is:  Do you need to disinfect your groceries? The mail? What about packages and other delivered items? What should you be cleaning more often?

High-Touch Areas:

What are “high-touch areas?” They are all of the things that we touch frequently. These need to be cleaned more often with a good cleanser.

They include things such as:

• Doorknobs and handles
• Steering wheels
• Toilet flusher
• Light switches
• Faucets and sinks
• Hand and dish towels
• Handles on furniture and appliances
• Tables, desks, and hard-backed chairs
• Toiletries and makeup
• Computer keyboard and mouse
• Handbags, tote bags, laptop bags, etc.

Groceries:

Food and food packaging are not the biggest concerns at the grocery store right now, though the surfaces will need to be disinfected. Your biggest shopping risk right now is contact with other people and high-touch areas like shopping carts, basket handles, and freezer isle handles.

It is extremely important to practice appropriate social distancing while in the grocery store, avoid touching your face while shopping, use hand sanitizer before getting into your vehicle, and wash your hands thoroughly when you return home.

The US Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) current guidelines on food safety and coronavirus do not include disinfecting perishable or non-perishable grocery items even though we know the virus itself can live for sometime on surfaces such as plastic, metal, and cardboard.

Produce:

Perishables should be cleaned as you would clean your hands. If you cannot wash it, you may want to skip it for right now.  Do not use products like bleach or Lysol on food, they are both designed for surfaces and are not meant to be ingested and can cause illness.

Reusable Grocery Bags:

Reusable grocery bags are considered high-touch items. At this time they should be avoided or cleaned after every use to ensure they remain free of any possible contamination.

Food Delivery and Takeout:

Similar to grocery shopping, your biggest concern here is contact with the delivery person. If possible choose a delivery company that allows contactless delivery.

Apps: Many delivery apps have contact-less delivery options built in that also allow you to pre-tip the delivery workers. It is best if you can avoid touching cash right now as it is also a high-touch surface.

Phone: When placing orders by telephone, you can request that the delivery be left on the steps, porch, or driveway outside your home or in the lobby of multi-unit buildings.

Pickup: When picking up takeout always practice appropriate social distancing with restaurant personnel and other customers. If possible, pre-pay for your meal before you pick up your food, or use touch-free payment system, rather than cash or credit cards, to avoid cross-contamination.

Once you get home with your food, make sure that you remove it from the packaging from the restaurant, throw it away outside of your home, and wash your hands.

Here are a few tips:

• Place delivery bags and containers in the sink rather than on table- or countertops.
• Transfer food from takeout containers to a plate.
• Discard all delivery bags, boxes, and takeout containers in the trash or recycling.
• Wash your hands before eating.
• Leftovers should be put in your own food storage containers rather than in takeout containers.

For a more in-depth overview of how to handle food, groceries, and takeout watch this YouTUBE video from Dr. Jeffrey VanWingen: https://youtu.be/sjDuwc9KBps.   Many physicians differ with Dr.  VanWingen and feel his advice is extreme.

Mail and Packages:

Just as with food packaging and take-out delivery items, mail and packages pose a low risk of transmitting the coronavirus, but it is a good idea to be cautious. Also just like food packaging and delivery items, you should avoid any contact with the person delivering your mail or packages. It is best to have the package left at your door, open all packages outside of your home, dump the contents out without touching them, toss the packaging in the trash, wash your hands, then collect your items.

Experts are recommending social distancing, keep your hands away from your face, regular hand washing, and regularly sanitizing high-touch areas. All of these combined are our best measures to prevent getting sick and the overall spread of coronavirus. We all need to be a bit more diligent right now and we can get through this together.

VAMBOA asks you to stay safe and healthy.   We are all in this together.

DISCLAIMER: We at VAMBOA are not medical professionals and all advice shared here should be double-checked with your own medical professional. Seek the proper treatment in your area if you are experiencing any symptoms.

Sharing from retired Lieutenant Colonel Dr. Richard Angel:

“My name is Dr. Richard Angel, an ER Doctor & Former Special Forces Medic, and I want to help as many people as possible get through having Coronavirus and keep them well enough to stay out of the hospital. I have Coronavirus and am recovering after two weeks of symptoms. Here is what I have done to stay relatively well and recommend these measures to you:

Dr. Angel’s Coronavirus Care:

1. Hydration:Drink plenty of fluids, water, tea, warm beverages. Especially important for the elderly who are often dehydrated. This flushes the kidneys of toxins, keeps plenty of fluid in the body to keep secretions as liquid as possible not allowing thick mucus to fill the lungs. An occasional toddy or hot herb tea with honey and lemon is great. (If unable to take much, sip small amounts of regular Gatorade or sports drinks and water. This will give you potassium, sodium and glucose, vital nutrients.)

2. Immune Support: I like Zicam zinc throat lozenges 4 x a day, especially at night before going to bed to keep viral loads low. Also maybe Emergen-C, other supplements like Vitamin D 5000 U per day, perhaps some immune supporting mushrooms. Gargle and drink diluted apple cider vinegar may help, you may warm and add honey if needed.

3. Diet: Plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and quality proteins. Oranges daily are great! Lemons and honey for your tea. This is not a time for a minimal diet: you want to be well fed with nutritious foods to prepare your body for potential loss of appetite. If you get sick enough to require hospital respiratory support, your body needs to be fueled up to “run a marathon”.

4. Medications: Zicam lozenges for prevention and treatment of symptoms. Plenty of cough drops. Vicks Vaporub is excellent and a must have item to decrease cough, open and soothe bronchial passages. Delsym 12 hr dextromethorphan extended release (the flat bottle) is a great baseline cough suppressant. You may add day and night cold and cough medicines, Tylenol (acetaminophen) as needed. NyQuil is good to help sleep with Vaporub and warm tea. Afrin or neti pot may help clear your nose as will over the counter sinus medications. There is an excellent old cough syrup that you can generally take with other medications, it is like liquid menthol, called “Buckley’s Original Mixture”. I highly recommend having some available—can be found on Amazon.

5. Equipment: Vaporizer machine and Vaposteam. Get the old school one that heats up not cool mist. This is a lifesaver. I would also recommend a simple nebulizer machine ($50) and saline ampules (the pink ones). These are available on Amazon. You may need an albuterol ampule prescription as well. In addition to a thermometer, a fingertip pulse oximeter can be very useful. A general “cutoff” for being sick is about 94%—below this you may need to see a doctor.Shortness of breath and work of breathing are signs you are getting sicker and need to see a physician. (Or call in!)

6. Exercise: Sunshine, light walking if you are ill is always great. If not symptomatic, keep workouts relatively light. Now is not a great time to suppress your immune system using energy recovering from a hardcore workout. However, keeping fitness,especially cardiovascular at optimum levels may pay big dividends if you get really sick.

7. Hot baths, hot tub soaks: For 15 minutes twice a day may help with an “artificially induced fever” that makes you a less hospitable host for the virus among other benefits.

8. Hygiene: Shower/bath daily with clean clothes daily, brush teeth, etc. This cannot be underestimated—decreases the virus and the morale boost is very important.”

Basically, try to do what you can to keep your body and immune system strong, stay hydrated, and stay home unless you absolutely must leave. We will get through this difficult time together.

VAMBOA wants everyone to social distance and be safe.  We are all in this together.

CNN put together this Game Plan – Check List on How to coronavirus-proof your home. It has some excellent tips. VAMBOA, the Veterans and Military Business Owners Association recommends that you print and post it. The sources are expert physicians as well as the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Stay Safe.

How to coronavirus-proof your home

By Scottie Andrew, CNN

Life under coronavirus means staying at home as much as possible — but you’ll likely need to make a trip to the grocery store or pharmacy at some point. Download or print this tip sheet to make sure you don’t bring the virus back home with you.

Note: Recommendations for Covid-19 may change as officials learn more, so monitor your local health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for updates.

 Make a game plan

• Designate one person to be your errand-runner to limit your outside exposures
• Set up a disinfecting station — an area outside your home or in a room with low foot traffic where you can disinfect packaged food

 When you’re out

• Avoid coming within less than six feet of others
• Wipe handles on carts or baskets while shopping
• You don’t have to have gloves or a mask — just wash your hands frequently while you’re out and avoid touching your face

 When you get back

• Wash your hands with soap and water for 20 seconds
• Disinfect takeout boxes and packaged foods at your disinfecting station
• Thoroughly wash produce before putting it in your kitchen

Disinfect

• Disinfect everything you touch — doorknobs, light switches, keys, phone, keyboards, remotes, etc.
• Use EPA-approved disinfectants (these include Clorox Disinfecting Wipes and certain Lysol sprays) and leave surfaces wet for 3-5 minutes

Delivery

• Ask workers to drop deliveries off on your doorstep or an area of your complex
• If they need you to come to the door, keep six feet of distance
• Pay and tip online when possible
• After you pick up mail from your mailbox, wash your hands

Laundry

• Wash clothes, towels and linens regularly on the warmest setting
• Disinfect your laundry hamper, too, or place a removable liner inside it
• Don’t shake dirty laundry to avoid dispersing the virus in the air

Guests

• You shouldn’t allow guests over right now
• If you need to house a family member or friend, avoid shared living spaces as much as you can
• If they need to enter shared living spaces, ask them to keep six feet of distance

 If someone in your home gets sick

• First, consult your doctor
• Isolate them in another room and ask them to use a separate restroom
• Disinfect frequently touched surfaces every day
• Avoid sharing items with them
• Wear gloves when washing their laundry
• Continue to wash your hands frequently
• Ask them to wear a face mask if they have one

 Supplies you’ll need

• EPA-approved disinfectants
• f you don’t have disinfectants, make a bleach solution:
  • Mix four teaspoons bleach per quart of water; or
  • Use a 70% alcohol solution
• Laundry detergent
• Trash bags
• Prescription medicines (you can mail order these)
• Canned foods — fruits, veggies, beans
• Dry goods — breads, pastas, nut butters
• Frozen foods — meats, veggies, fruits

Pets

• Supervise your pet in your backyard
• It’s OK to play with them outside — just keep your distance from other humans
• If you’re sick, ask someone you live with to take care of them while you recover
• If you must care for them while you’re sick, wash your hands frequently

Sources:

• Dr. Leana Wen, former Baltimore City Health Commissioner and an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University in Washington.
• Dr. Koushik Kasanagottu, an internal medicine resident physician at John Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, and who is among the thousands of health care professionals treating patients with coronavirus.
• Dr. Richard Kuhn, a virologist, director of the Purdue Institute of Inflammation, Immunology and Infectious Disease and editor-in-chief of the journal “Virology.”
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.