Covid-19: Things I'm Doing Differently

[-]Steven Byrnes6y*140

I have a lot of overlap with you—washing hands at the times you mention (my routine), not shaking hands, not touching shared surfaces in public. I also finally quit biting my nails and am doing intense cardio workouts like my life depends on it (interspersed with rest days), and got a UV cellphone sterilization thingie, and am taking Vitamin D, which my physician told me to do a while ago anyway. And I bought some supplies to make it easier to work from home.

I think preventing disease transmission within my family is a lost cause; my 1yo sneezes at my face all the time, my 5yo is unable to stop touching his face and then everything else. (In the other direction, reducing adult-to-kid transmission is lower-priority because COVID-19 appears to be roughly zero risk for kids their ages. Still, I wouldn't cough in their faces!) So within the house, we're just doing little things like changing clothes & hand-towels more frequently, and washing hands before meals. We're not copper-taping doorknobs or bleaching surfaces or anything like that. (NB: I don't have a lot of house guests like you.)

I'm also continuing to go to work and send kids to school. The decision-relevant consideration for me is whether we're within 3 weeks of the local hospitals getting overwhelmed—I figure that's when my personal demographic-adjusted fatality risk shoots up from a reasonable 0.1%ish to a pretty scary 2%ish. I don't know when we're going to cross that threshold, but I don't think we're there yet. (As of this writing, March 5.) (Note that exponential growth means I shouldn't trust my intuitions; I need to think about this more carefully...) For my high-risk-factor family and friends, I've been encouraging them to avoid crowded public places etc. starting now; even with a functioning hospital system, I'm not happy about their risk.

(ETA: First-cut analysis here; I think I'm not going to go too crazy with social distancing at least until there are 100 people in my state being hospitalized for COVID-19 ... by which point the schools may well be closed etc. anyway.)

[-]khafra6y*40

Is there any minimally-weird, non-awkward way to handle public door handles and buttons? Using your sleeve is terrible, because you don't wash your sleeve several times a day, and the virus can survive until your next clothing wash. Some sort of small but sturdy copper/bronze manipulator that could be put in a copper-lined case in your pocket, maybe?

*Follow-up edit 2y later*: It turned out that surfaces weren't a big infection danger, just like EGI said. I also found a kickstarted L-shaped brass manipulator. I put it on my lanyard for work, and have been using it to push publicly-used buttons and open doors. I haven't gotten covid yet.

[-]ChristianKl6y20

I wrapped copper tape around a 15 cm wood stick for this purpose. Gloves are also useful.

[-]gwillen6y20

You can use a paper towel (in the bathroom) or a tissue if you have a nearby source of them. I think using your sleeve (for door handles) or your knuckle (for buttons) is still better than using your hand, because you are much less likely to use your knuckle/sleeve to later touch your face / keyboard / phone. (However, using your hand seems better than using your sleeve if you are about to wash or sanitize your hands.)

[-]DanielFilan6y20

I feel pretty OK pushing buttons with my knuckles.

[-]khafra6y20

I considered that, but I touch all kinds of surfaces that are 0-2 degrees separate from my mucous membranes with my knuckles: the insides of my pockets, the palm of my other hand, my chin, etc.

[-]EGI6y10

You could just use your hands and wash/desinfect afterwards before touching your face. The virus cannot penetrate your skin and even lacerations are probably safe, since the target cells are in your nose/lungs.

[+][comment deleted]6y80

[-]TheMajor6y10

Not much to add, just wanted to say thanks for sharing, and I have a lot of overlap with you too (washing hands often, copper on doorknobs/fridge handles/back of phone/other surfaces, not shaking hands in public and more).

LESSWRONG
LW

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Covid-19: Things I'm Doing Differently

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