As the world is confined, outings are highly restricted and limited – for most – to first necessity purchase such as food.
If some people have gone for home deliveries, other – often because of lack of time slots available – are going to supermarkets to buy what they need to eat. But like many French, grocery shopping is now a source of anxiety and stress because they are afraid of being contaminated or spread the virus.
So, to help you run errands safely and manage your return back home, the Anses or French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety, unveils recommendations based on scientific data available and answers questions you may have.
Of course, it’s vital to respect barrier gestures and 6-foot social distance between each person, whether at the entrance of the store, in the aisles or at the checkouts. Another piece of advice, avoid going to the supermarkets at peak hours and enjoy less crowded hours.
Let your groceries set when coming back
Once at home with your groceries, several precautions have to be observed. As the Anses says, you shall wash your hands first and “let your groceries set two or three hours after bringing them back home when there’s no fresh food”. For instance, let them on the landing, in your car or in the garage. We remind you that the virus can survives up to 3 hours in the open air or on inert surfaces. Another recommendation: remove packaging and clean products that are stocked in the refrigerator with a damp cloth or paper towel. Then, don’t forget to wash your hands again. The Anses also precises that white vinegar is good to kill bacteria “but probably less for viruses”.
How to eat fruits and vegetables?
Another question French have: how to erase the virus on fruits and vegetables, and how can we eat raw fruits and vegetables, or should we cook them first? Once again, the Anses recommends you wash fruits and vegetables before eating them. To do so, you don’t need white vinegar, clear water is enough. Then, dry your food with disposable paper towel: a gesture all the more vital if you wish to eat these fruits and vegetables raw. To make sure you take no risk at all, wait for 24 hours before touching and eating them.
“For vegetables, cooking at 63°C – that is to say over medium heat – for 4 minutes is enough to kill the potentially present virus” the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety says. Also note that freezers don’t kill the virus, unlike hot.
The Anses also adds that as of today “no scientific data lets us think that the virus can contaminates us via digestive way. Yet, the possibility to infect airways when chewing contaminated food cannot be totally excluded”.
How to clean potentially contaminated surfaces?
Last but not least, don’t forget to clean potentially contaminated surfaces. “Some studies carried out in very different conditions from home, have shown that the virus stays more or less active on inert surfaces. It survives up to 72 hours on plastic and stainless steel. It remains detectable for 24 hours on carboard in the same experimental conditions. The risk of touching the virus handling objects contaminated by a carrier is then not theoretically excluded but low” the Anses says.
To eliminate any risk, wash surfaces using household products such as rubbing alcohol to disinfect door handles. You can also use – with precautions – water and bleach on some surfaces, but you can also use white vinegar. As for floors, no hoover since it can diffuse viral particles, but use a broom and a spade. Then, use disifincting wipes or a mop and bleach to cleanse everything.
Moving on to waste related to the epidemic (facemasks, tissues, gloves...), you better be cautious and careful if you are sick or likely to be infected: first throw them in a devoted and small trash bag you can close easily. Once full, put the bag in another and identical bag and keep it at least for 24hours prior to throwing it to the dumpster.
In the kitchen think about the dishwasher to clean your dishes and if you have no dishwasher, let your dishes sit in bleach waters down to 0.1% for 15 minutes.
In the bathroom, keep toothbrushes apart (lovers, we see you...) and clothes, if clothes are likely to have been contamined by the virus, wash them at 60°C for 30 minutes.
As for your mobile phone and the screen we’re always touching, the Anses recommends using “disinfecting wipes or paper towel soaked with rubbing alcohol”. Surfaces to clean at least twice a day. And don’t forget to wash your hands after each time you handle something coming from outside! It's also highly recommended to keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in your entrance hall.
Find all recommendations on the Anses official website.
Official website
www.anses.fr
