Community Transmission. Can I got Covid - 19 from the following actions....

[Bronco Lane]

Just wondering if there have been many Covid cases reported from doing the following actions.

1. Getting a take out coffee/ice cream cone.
2. Going to the supermarket.
3. Getting a take out meal.
4. Eating cold meats/unwrapped bread/eating fruit/raw vegetables.
5. Touching surfaces.
6. Walking outdoors.
7. Handling currency.
8. Opening post.
9. Walking in my home with my street shoes.
10. Using public transport.

 

[EmmDee]

Just wondering if there have been many Covid cases reported from doing the following actions.

1. Getting a take out coffee/ice cream cone.
2. Going to the supermarket.
3. Getting a take out meal.
4. Eating cold meats/unwrapped bread/eating fruit/raw vegetables.
5. Touching surfaces.
6. Walking outdoors.
7. Handling currency.
8. Opening post.
9. Walking in my home with my street shoes.
10. Using public transport.

My understanding is that contact transmission risk is pretty low. The main risk of transmission is (a) close contact with others, (b) indoor contact with others and (c) larger groups of people - and even higher risk with combination of these.

Most of your list, as I understand it, has very low risk. Supermarket and public transport probably carry the highest risk in that list which is why masks are required.

 

[Purple]

Just wondering if there have been many Covid cases reported from doing the following actions.

1. Getting a take out coffee/ice cream cone.
2. Going to the supermarket.
3. Getting a take out meal.
4. Eating cold meats/unwrapped bread/eating fruit/raw vegetables.
5. Touching surfaces.
6. Walking outdoors.
7. Handling currency.
8. Opening post.
9. Walking in my home with my street shoes.
10. Using public transport.

Infections happen due to the inhalation of exhaled droplets from an infected person.
Think of it like this; any place you don't want to be when someone farts is a place where you are more likely to get Covid19, or any other virus transmitted in a similar manner.

Infection from contact with surfaces is very rare.

 

[noproblem]

Lots of dangerous incidents that we're never warned about at all. The local sorting office/building for letters parcels had to be temporarily closed recently because of an outbreak, 2nd one we were later informed. After 1 day it was opened again and everything delivered in through everyone's letter box with no warnings or information whatsoever. I can assure you there were lots of infections resulting from this but can I give a link to that? No. Do I clean/wipe envelopes, packages now as a result? I certainly do. By the way, it was our local postman who informed me but it wasn't policy and he wasn't told to do so. Thankfully, we know him well. How much of this type of incident is happening in all type of activity? A hell of a lot I would imagine.

 

[Kimmagegirl]

I have a thing about envelopes and stamps on envelopes that might have been licked. I just can't buy unwrapped bread or cold meats. In fact when I see hand rolled "roulade" being advertised, I avoid it like the proverbial.

 

[Purple]

Lots of dangerous incidents that we're never warned about at all. The local sorting office/building for letters parcels had to be temporarily closed recently because of an outbreak, 2nd one we were later informed. After 1 day it was opened again and everything delivered in through everyone's letter box with no warnings or information whatsoever. I can assure you there were lots of infections resulting from this but can I give a link to that? No. Do I clean/wipe envelopes, packages now as a result? I certainly do. By the way, it was our local postman who informed me but it wasn't policy and he wasn't told to do so. Thankfully, we know him well. How much of this type of incident is happening in all type of activity? A hell of a lot I would imagine.

While the chances of getting infected from surface contact is very low the chances of being infected from surfaces like paper, which adsorb water and so break down droplets, is just about non-existent.
You certainly shouldn't bother wiping your post unless you suspect the postman is licking it before he puts it through your door.

 

[Purple]

Just wondering if there have been many Covid cases reported from doing the following actions.

1. Getting a take out coffee/ice cream cone.
2. Going to the supermarket.
3. Getting a take out meal.
4. Eating cold meats/unwrapped bread/eating fruit/raw vegetables.
5. Touching surfaces.
6. Walking outdoors.
7. Handling currency.
8. Opening post.
9. Walking in my home with my street shoes.
10. Using public transport.

Given that mask wearing is required on public transport and in shops and there's a very low chance of getting infected from touching things I suspect that transmission wise the things on your list are statistically inconsequential.
Spending time in close contact in a enclosed and/or badly ventilated place is the number one cause of transmission. That's why having people in your house is such a no-no. Unless you are @Duke of Marmalade and can receive them in the ballroom or another reception room with a 20ft ceiling.

 

[odyssey06]

I have a thing about envelopes and stamps on envelopes that might have been licked. I just can't buy unwrapped bread or cold meats. In fact when I see hand rolled "roulade" being advertised, I avoid it like the proverbial.

Well you can't catch covid from eating an infected item as it gets broken down in your digestive system.
But there are other nasty things you could get.

 

[noproblem]

While the chances of getting infected from surface contact is very low the chances of being infected from surfaces like paper, which adsorb water and so break down droplets, is just about non-existent.
You certainly shouldn't bother wiping your post unless you suspect the postman is licking it before he puts it through your door.

The very same postmen/women in the sorting offices that were closed, the ones who handle all letters, etc are the people infected and you're telling me there's almost no chance of infection from what they've handled and God only knows what their hands were rubbing on, eg, mouth, nostrils, eyes, Thanks Purple, but i'm wiping the envelopes. As for fresh fruit? It would help to change some peoples opinions if they stood back and watched what's happening in the fruit/veg departments in Supermarkets.
It's a bit like the advert on TV telling us of a product that cleans all invisible stains??? Don't think we'll go into that one

 

[SlugBreath]

My thing is ATM machines. I visited one today with my bacterial wipe. Wiped all the buttons before using. While waiting for my cash, receipt and card to be given back I decided to give the whole thing a bit of a wipe. Why waste a good bacterial wipe.

 

[Leo]

This topic has been covered here previously, it has been well stablished that fomite surfaces pose little risk. Studies that have shown Covid can survive on surfaces such as steel or plastic for up to 5 days in the right conditions, but most of these studies begin using unrealistically large samples.

If you're worried about touching post, how about not sticking your finger in your eyes or mouth shortly after touching it!

 

[Purple]

The very same postmen/women in the sorting offices that were closed, the ones who handle all letters, etc are the people infected and you're telling me there's almost no chance of infection from what they've handled

Yes, that's exactly what I'll telling you, because it is demonstrably true.

 

[noproblem]

Thanks Purple, good to know. Just been told that the actual post office that's attached to the sorting centre is now closed down for a week from this morning. Pensioners going there from today to collect pensions, etc, now have a round trip of another 24 kms. At least they'll get to break the 5Km rule legally and help keep the virus at bay.

 

[Leo]

Just been told that the actual post office that's attached to the sorting centre is now closed down for a week from this morning.

This is a similar measure to the closure of classes where there is more than one case. The measure is designed to keep people who may have been exposed to the virus from hanging about in the same enclosed space thus increasing the chances of more people contracting Covid from infectious people. The concern isn't with the potential for contaminated surfaces.

 

[EasilyAmused]

Just wondering if there have been many Covid cases reported from doing the following actions.

1. Getting a take out coffee/ice cream cone.
2. Going to the supermarket.
3. Getting a take out meal.
4. Eating cold meats/unwrapped bread/eating fruit/raw vegetables.
5. Touching surfaces.
6. Walking outdoors.
7. Handling currency.
8. Opening post.
9. Walking in my home with my street shoes.
10. Using public transport.

I don’t think reporting goes to this level of detail.
However, 2, 5 and 10 have definitely been attributed to transmission over the last 12 months.

 

[EasilyAmused]

Back in February last year there was repeated advise not to touch one’s face. This advice we never hear of anymore, presumably because it’s almost impossible.

 

[odyssey06]

Back in February last year there was repeated advise not to touch one’s face. This advice we never hear of anymore, presumably because it’s almost impossible.

There was misinformation deliberately spread by China in the early stages of the pandemic that led to this and was accepted hook line and sinker too readily over here.
They said it was spread by touching and surfaces because if it was spread person to person via coughing, sneezing etc they were worried about travel restrictions being imposed on them.
This led to over focus in the early stages of the pandemic on hand sanitisation and not enough focus on ventilation, masks, aerosols etc.
As we were short on masks, we didn't want to use them in situations where they may not have been needed.

 

[EasilyAmused]

As we were short on masks, we didn't want to use them in situations where they may not have been needed.

Yes, seems the WHO advice not to use use masks was based on supply rather health advice.

Having said that, I remember watching Prime Time last April or May and an Irish expert adamant on following WHO advice and a very smug Czech expert claiming their low death and cases rate could be attributed to their mass usage of masks in the early days of the pandemic.
Fast forward to today and the Czech Republic has a death rate worse than the U.K. and the U.S.A.

 

[odyssey06]

Yes, seems the WHO advice not to use use masks was based on supply rather health advice.

Having said that, I remember watching Prime Time last April or May and an Irish expert adamant on following WHO advice and a very smug Czech expert claiming their low death and cases rate could be attributed to their mass usage of masks in the early days of the pandemic.
Fast forward to today and the Czech Republic has a death rate worse than the U.K. and the U.S.A.

Supply was definitely framing the advice, as well as the idea that if fomite transmission was a big threat that for people to use masks as PPE they needed to use them with medical level training.

And I think at the time they did help the Czechs.
At a time when people are following the lockdown guidelines without masks you are still exposed in community settings.
Masks reduce the risk in shops, buses, hospitals, banks etc
But when people aren't following any of the guidelines at home, parties, travel, sending sick kids to school etc well there's not much they can do.

 

[johnwilliams]

oddysses06 says "Well you can't catch covid from eating an infected item as it gets broken down in your digestive system"
came across a report basically saying the mouth and saliva was a big cause of infection (would get into mouth and infect gums hence lack of smell and taste ,would also travel down throat and into lungs (via saliva) cant remember rest of it ,cant find it now