How many "dirty" things do we touch every day?

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by RBDTx

I am in the "at risk" group, but I do blame mainstream and social media for the absurd hysteria about this virus. At what point do we return to normal? What happens with the newcoronavirus or the mightbethesameasacoronavirus in the future.


If SARS or H1N1 or other viruses were so critical, why are we not all vaccinated each year for each of them?


Viruses happen. Life adapts. God prevails!



Wash your hands, don't go to work/school if you are sick, and let us move on.


Tell the media to knock off the "yellow journalism." For anyone under 60, look it up.

First off, the medical experts, not the mainstream media are the ones raising the concern and are advising those in charge (politicians) to take drastic measures. The ones who are the experts in epidemiology aren't the ones in charge, they are limited to advising our elected officials on what actions should be taken and the mainstream media is merely reporting. From my observations they are doing an uncharacteristically good job of making sure the expert's voices are being heard over the political noise.

As for vaccinations for H1N1, influenza virus, EVERY YEAR there is a huge campaign for people to get their flu shots. The experts consider it important enough that they've convinced most health insurance companies and Medicare to provide them free with out copay. As easy as going to your local pharmacist now and not having to wait for a Dr's appointment.

Did you get yours this year? Every year hundreds of thousands of people DON'T with all kinds of excuses, claiming it's not totally effective, and a host of normal anti-vaccine arguments.

The answer to your statement is simple. Vaccines in this country can only be given to the willing. Countries like China on the other hand---------

On that last note, it's being reported that China's outbreak of Covid19 is on the way out. They're even tearing down their "instant hospitals" that were erected to treat the infected. China's authoritarian government was able to do things that in most democracies is impossible.

[KAS]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

Certainly the idea of picking up "germs" is a hot topic today and there is another active topic discussing a specific threat.

I just thought that this might be an interesting topic to create awareness on how many places we pick up germs on an everyday bases and for the most part give little or no thought to them.

Here's a list of 10 most common places we pick up germs as listed an internet site. Interestingly, 9 of the 10 things are most often right in our house:

Money
Light Switch
Computer Keyboard
Cell Phone
Toilet Seat
Shopping Cart
Remote Control
Bathtub
Kitchen Sink
Kitchen Sponge

Now how about the things we encounter every day where we all "share germs" with members of the public?

Door hardware (knobs, pull handles, etc)
ATM's
Gas Pumps

I'll let you add your own from here------



If nothing else this should strengthen the case for washing hands, using hand sanitizer, and not touching your face year around, not just during cold/flu/etc season.

Vehicle steering wheel & door handles
Mail & Packages

[mjones12]

Yeah, at our gym we saw a guy finish exercising and then wipe down the equipment with his sweaty towel....then wiped his face with with it. A public health menace.

Originally Posted by jeff64

How about gyms and health clubs?

[CYAH OUT THERE!]

I’ve seen #BoomerRemover being used

[Chazman]

Yawn.
Let's go camping.

[chroniekon]

Your credit card could get contaminated when you hand it over to the cashier at the store and all the items you just purchased that he/she rang up for you.

[Scheinin]

I remember when I was in elementary school, asbestos was used to insulate the hot water pipes. It would deteriorate and we would play with it. Also, remember putting mercury in the palm of your hand and playing with that? And look, I am still alive in my 70"s.

What happens when a misquote bites a person who has the china virus, and then bites me?

[Iwritecode]

Originally Posted by chroniekon

Your credit card could get contaminated when you hand it over to the cashier at the store and all the items you just purchased that he/she rang up for you.

I'm not sure I've had a cashier handle my card in years. I stick it in the machine myself, push a few buttons, then take it back out when it beeps.

Although I can't imagine how many people have touched the buttons/screen on those card readers before me.

[Chazman]

Originally Posted by Scheinin

I remember when I was in elementary school, asbestos was used to insulate the hot water pipes. It would deteriorate and we would play with it. Also, remember putting mercury in the palm of your hand and playing with that? And look, I am still alive in my 70"s.

What happens when a misquote bites a person who has the china virus, and then bites me?

I too used to play with mercury as a kid, and I thought about posting that, but then I figured people would freak out so I abstained. BUT, since you went there, well, what the h*ll.

And four months ago today I survived open heart surgery. Today I am FULLY recovered. Us "old folks" who have been through it and survived eat things like the corona virus for breakfast...

[D W]

Probably the dirtiest things you touch each day are your shoes!

[jenandjon]

I've spent most of my life in a farm. I inhaled enough **** dust to be immune to most diseases.

[Reverse_snowbird]

Door handles on restrooms. If there are paper towels, I use that to open the door after washing my hands.
Items from the store. I wash hands after putting stuff away.
Chicken, pork, beef. Wash hands after handling raw meat.
Hand towels. The advice now is to wash hands and use a single use paper towel to dry hands.

Not a germaphobe. Momma just taught me to wash my hands frequently. Don't want to make others sick.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Reverse_snowbird

Door handles on restrooms. If there are paper towels, I use that to open the door after washing my hands.
Items from the store. I wash hands after putting stuff away.
Chicken, pork, beef. Wash hands after handling raw meat.
Hand towels. The advice now is to wash hands and use a single use paper towel to dry hands.

Not a germaphobe. Momma just taught me to wash my hands frequently. Don't want to make others sick.

Some of the first words I learned as a kid were "Did you wash your hands?"

Today I'm under "house arrest" and even though it's just me, period, my hands have been washed so many times the skin looks like that on a prune

[hankpac]

That's the simple answer. After 40 years of working, mostly in the medical field, the first lesson, and the continuous lesson, and the last lesson has always ben "Wash your hands" Basic rule, was "Before and after each patient contact" Alcohol gel gets substituted, but it certainly does not take the place of hand washing.
Before patient contact, because after the last patient contact, there are a lot of places of contact before you go to the next contact: Charts, pens, desk tops, everything.
Even when I don't contact other people now, I still wash before going to the next task. My day is interspersed between outside and inside work, so I'm constantly washing. I use antibacterial soap, except when my hands are actually dirty, then I use Dawn, and a scrub brush. That happens to be antibacterial.
The truth is that simple but thorough hand washing mitigates almost all infections.
Walking into known infectious places such as the VA hospital (today) I put on a mask, at the door, not because Im sick (I'm not, but because hospitals are reservoirs of resistant bacteria, such as pseudomonas, and MRSA).
The added steps of not touching one's own face, is a known route for most infections, since it is simply hand to face (mouth, eyes, nose, etc).
What is a puzzlement (as the King of Siam once said), is that the Flu is far more deadly, and happens every single year, and kills so many, and we EXPECT IT, Yet there has never been the public outcry, the governmental mobilization and the media driven panic that we see today. This is worse than the "Gas Shortage". The stupidity of having a run on toilet paper for an upper respiratory self-limited disease is astounding.
A friend of mine runs a Weapon Store in San Diego (Of all places) There is a 2 1/2 hour wait for ammo, and a line outside the store for gun (which they cannot pick up for two weeks) that is over 2 hours long. This is NOT the Zombie Apocalypse!

Using Clorox wipes, you can wipe your phone, and credit cars, then almost any place you have to shop, you can use your card instead of cash.
If you feel particularly exposed, wear disposable gloves, and have a box of them so you can put them on before you go into the store, and take them off once you get in your car, and gel your hands.
It can become cumbersome, but you can "glove in and out" of many public places.
I shifted into a different mode out of caution, but I am still traveling, and still have a box of masks, and gloves in the truck, trailer, and car.
I'm not hiding, but I am also not going to any social events, or restaurants, if I can avoid it.
I have always wiped down my screen and keyboard surfaces to on the laptop, anyway, and I do the phone every day too, and since I am hard of hearing I use the speaker or my bluetooth for the hearing aids, anyway.

It's a buggy world out there, but you can really cut down on the exposure if you try.

[Qwkynuf]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

First off, the medical experts, not the mainstream media are the ones raising the concern and are advising those in charge (politicians) to take drastic measures. The ones who are the experts in epidemiology aren't the ones in charge, they are limited to advising our elected officials on what actions should be taken and the mainstream media is merely reporting. From my observations they are doing an uncharacteristically good job of making sure the expert's voices are being heard over the political noise.

As for vaccinations for H1N1, influenza virus, EVERY YEAR there is a huge campaign for people to get their flu shots. The experts consider it important enough that they've convinced most health insurance companies and Medicare to provide them free with out copay. As easy as going to your local pharmacist now and not having to wait for a Dr's appointment.

Did you get yours this year? Every year hundreds of thousands of people DON'T with all kinds of excuses, claiming it's not totally effective, and a host of normal anti-vaccine arguments.

The answer to your statement is simple. Vaccines in this country can only be given to the willing. Countries like China on the other hand---------

On that last note, it's being reported that China's outbreak of Covid19 is on the way out. They're even tearing down their "instant hospitals" that were erected to treat the infected. China's authoritarian government was able to do things that in most democracies is impossible.

But what you are leaving out is the intense social media pressure on organizations to "DO SOMETHING™" - So everyone is scrambling in an attempt to not look bad, or to be "shamed" (social media blackmail).

Just this week I have seen people on social media complain that schools weren't closing, and then when they closed, complain about the increased cost of daycare (which will likely close soon too). I have seen people complain that their employer was making them come in to work, and then when their office closes down, complain because they won't be able to pay their bills.

What is the solution? Everyone should stay home, but they should also continue to be paid? Where does that money come from, on this scale?

I was just talking to my wife this morning, and pointed out that if this stretches out for more than a month, my company is likely to start furloughing people. I doubt that my team would be in any of the early groups, and I am lucky that I have been around for a long time and have 8 weeks of vacation & sick time on the books.

But business WILL be affected, and the effects will be medium to long term. Equipment sales will drop precipitously in the next 30/60/90 days as our customers first restrict outside visitors (sales people), and then close their offices and make everyone (who can) work from home. This will ripple throughout our entire supply chain, suppliers will have to reduce output or shut down completely. Once the worst has passed, everything will take at least as long to recover as it did to slow down. Closures of a couple of weeks can be survived, but a month will cost us 2 months. Two months will likely cost us 5 or 6 months, and so on.

When we close a sale on a piece of equipment, my job starts somewhere between 30 & 60 days after the papers are signed. If my offices or my customers' offices are closed for 2 months, how much sense does it make to pay me to sit on my couch for 3-4 months?

So, I am concerned about the financial impact of what appears in many cases to be a half-cocked response. I worry about the continued viability of many small businesses who already operate on razor-thin margins. I worry about the viability of many large companies, who may simply may not be able to marshal the resources to get the behemoth moving again once it's allowed to stop.

In short, I would have like to have seen more measured responses, across the board.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Qwkynuf

In short, I would have like to have seen more measured responses, across the board.

I think even our leaders would like to use a more measured response but unfortunately nobody seems to know exactly how this virus is going to behave longer term.

Will it spread rapidly, make a lot of people sick, then "burn itself out" or will it continue to grow and become more lethal than anything we've seen in the past.

There's the key issue. Nobody knows so do you err on the side of caution disrupting lives for a month or so? Or just go with a mild response only to find the cat's totally out of the bag and nothing will stop it short of running out of "hosts" (victims)?

Unfortunately one decision could save lives and the other would be more "political". Just where do you set the pointer on the dial in order to get an effective balance in the response, if that's even possible.

[chroniekon]

Originally Posted by Iwritecode

I'm not sure I've had a cashier handle my card in years. I stick it in the machine myself, push a few buttons, then take it back out when it beeps.

Although I can't imagine how many people have touched the buttons/screen on those card readers before me.

And the special pen they provide that you sign your name with. I live in Oregon and there is no self serve gas. The card gets handed over to the attendant. The other day the waitress in the restaurant took our card somewhere and came back with a receipt. Although not a credit card, the Costco cashier takes our membership card and scans it.
Other things I suppose could be our mail. Ours at least is hand delivered to our mail box. We get quite a few things from Amazon and other mail order sources. At some point some of those items have experienced human contact from who knows where. Certainly when the UPS or FedEx person drops them off.
The 'wash your hands frequently' mantra begins to make a lot of sense.

[rollscanardly]

Originally Posted by nomad297

I’m a plumber, but my hands are probably cleaner than most people’s due to how often I clean them.

I still won’t eat the last bite of a sandwich, though.

Bruce

Just curious...do you hold the sandwich with one hand, in the same spot the entire time?.....


Rich

[Larry-NC]

I serve as a volunteer disaster responder, as an organizer and planner. I have been attending meetings where the Public Health planners and Emergency Management folks present. Here is the reason for all the publicity.

Look at the graph below. (Sorry for the crude drawing.) The vertical axis is number of hospitalized patients. The horizontal axis is time.

Nearly everybody is going to get this illness. Most of us (under 65) will survive. The vulnerable population is the over 65s and those with compromised immune systems.

If we take no precautions (go to mass events, don't wash hands, etc.), the affected population will peak at nearly the same time (light blue-green curve) and there will not be enough hospital beds. People (mostly older or immunity-compromised) will die.

If we take precautions (avoid mass gatherings, wash hands, wear masks in risky situations), the illnesses will still occur in all the people, but they will occur over a longer time (burnt orange curve). The peak will be lower and there will be enough hospital beds.

So if you a young, immortal guy and don't take precautions, you could be killing an older person, maybe your father.

I'm 74 and very healthy. Not everyone is. I read threads here on FRF all the time about people powering their CPAPs. These guys/gals are the ones at risk. I'd just as soon continue to hear from them.

Did that answer your question?

[BigRockr]

Jesus! Didn't the OP start this off by asking for dirty things. (WHICH MIGHT BE HELPFUL!)? The first response went off the rails. Your whole life doesn't need to be political. (Which seems to be the norm for this age group or forum, take your pick!}

If we overreact it will prob be over FASTER!

GET BACK ON TOPIC!



Here's mine:
- The credit card you hand to someone.

- Door handles at store
- Buttons at the gas pumps (you can see the crud!)

- Any public handle!

- Actually any public button.