Accepting Items Into Your Home and COVID-19: Tips For Keeping Your Family Safe

During this very uncertain time, you might be wondering, can you get coronavirus (COVID-19) from deliveries from UPS or Amazon? What about bringing groceries into the house? With a few precautions, you can help make your deliveries safe, and ensure that you aren’t bringing anything contagious into your house! Read on for some tips on how to safely and securely bring items into your home during this pandemic, from the Tampa indoor air quality experts at Super Heat & Air.
New research shows that COVID-19 can live on cardboard for about 24 hours, and on plastic and stainless steel for about 72 hours. Say that you just received a delivery from Amazon or UPS. For something like this, you can simply let your cardboard packaged items (if non-perishable) sit in the garage or other safe place in your house for 24 hours before you touch them. The same goes for anything packaged in plastic, let this sit for at least 72 hours.
Tip: If you do need to open your boxes before the 24-72 hour time limit, take the boxes outside and open them with gloves on. Once you have taken your items out the box, dispose of the box immediately, take off your gloves, and wash your hands.
For perishable items that you have brought home from the grocery store, simply put the items directly into your refrigerator, taking care not to “hug” the items against your clothing, or place them on countertops. If you can, remove any outer packaging and throw away before putting your items in the fridge. Wash any surfaces that might have touched the items or grocery bags. After putting your groceries away, thoroughly wash your hands. If you use reusable cloth grocery bags, throw them in the washing machine to wash.
No extra precautions need to be taken when washing fruit or vegetables. Rinse these in cool water before eating or preparing. (The FDA is currently not aware of any cases of COVID-19 being transmitted through food or packaging of food.)
Another thing to keep in mind is that while on the way to pick up your package, whether you live in an apartment or house, you might be touching a number of things that would qualify as “frequently touched surfaces.” Being aware of these surfaces is very important, and you should disinfect surfaces such as door knobs, handles, pens, elevator buttons, etc. frequently. When you are done picking up your packages and opening them up, wash your hands!
We hope these tips have alleviated some of your worries about COVID-19 and keeping your family safe. If you take these basic precautions, including washing your hands frequently, the danger from bringing delivered boxes or groceries into your home is minimal. When in doubt, disinfect surfaces and wash your hands. From your friends at Super Heat & Air, Greater Tampa Bay’s leading AC repair and indoor air quality company, we hope you stay healthy and safe! Remember: wash your hands!