When it really happens: SHTF...

[Patrick Chadwick]

I belong to that group of "older people with pre-existing conditions" who are more endangered than the average and likely to lose out when it comes to triage.

So this is not a joke, not a rant, but a serious attempt to think through what is obviously going wrong. I may be in error, but if I am right, then THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE FOR EVERYBODY - ESPECIALLY OVIDIO.

The death rate in Italy suggests that the " social distance" and lock-down precautions are NOT working as expected. And I do not think it can be explained away just by people sneaking out to have a drink with friends.

There is one place where everybody is allowed to go - and handle goods that have been handled by other people!

THE SUPERMARKETS (and any other food shops).

It does not matter if you wear a diving suit with breathing apparatus and enter the shop singly. You will be picking up goods that have been handled by other people. Lots of other people. And it does not matter how hygienically the goods have been packed - the packaging itself may have been contaminated on the outside surfaces.

So you come home, take off your protective gear, and then ... unpack the goods, thus touching the contaminated exterior ... and then touch the goods themselves, thus transferring the contamination to the goods.

How to avoid, or at least reduce this risk?

In the shops, a simple "fingering" prohibition on the lines of "you touch it, you buy it" would be sensible, but probably unenforcable.

More effective would be a check on all customers entering a shop that they are wearing disposable gloves - plus the fingering prohibition. No gloves - no admittance.

But some skinflints will cheat with gloves that they have used over and over. Gloves that are themselves contaminated.

So I envisage shops supplying gloves at the door. BTW, I have read that there is (or about to be) a shortage of disposable gloves.

I won't continue unnecessarily, as I think the participants here can work out the consequences themselves. Basically, one needs to think it through all the way from shop to table. Assume that everything you acquire is surface-contaminated - even ammo!

Sorry if this all seems long-winded, but that is OK if it helps anyone.

Keep healthy - and take these precautions.

Patrick