So it seems that everyone is posting their
ideas and steps / procedures regarding staying safe and healthy
regarding keeping the corona virus (nothing to do with the beer as I
indicated above) that causes the symptoms of Covid-19.
I'll get right to the precautions and steps we are taking. Some of it
relates to the actual business, but most of it is regarding personal
hygiene and habits (many of which are also applicable to business life).
BUSINESS: As far as changes here at the shop, we are fortunate
that our physical warehouse / shop is closed to the public as a matter
of course. EVERYTHING ships so there's no actual, physical 'retail traffic'. The
only folks that aren't directly associated with the business that we see
would be FedEx to do pick-ups. Our 'incoming' and postal shipments are
done else where. Even our consignors aren't doing drop-offs currently. My technicians decided that it would be prudent to 'lay
low' for a few weeks, and are not coming in. If there's an 'emergency'
repair that needs to be done, that I personally couldn't handle from a
'time / resource' perspective, then we would need to do a work-around
for that.
Frankly, my techs are using their time to do restorations / service on
units they own personally to later consign here, which I welcome. I am
pretty much driving from home to the shop and back and with the
exception of stopping for diesel, do no other stops, and have been for a
couple months now. We 'saw the writing on the wall' early on, and did
any physical shopping WAY prior to the 'national lock-down' warnings.
Occasionally, if we weren't able to get a FedEx pick-up scheduled, we
will do a drop off at FedEx. When doing that we are wearing masks and
gloves, and the FedEx drop off is generally also practicing 'safe
procedures' in their store (see "FUELING UP VEHICLES" below for
procedures following the exit from the FedEx / Postal locations).
By the way, it's only "hoarding" if you are
purchasing an amount that's well beyond what you could possibly use /
utilize in a reasonable time frame. The reason to 'stock up' on whatever
item's you need is to avoid going out into the public masses potentially
endangering yourself and / or others, NOT because you like having a
massive collection of toilet paper.
I hear of folks going to the store to buy only one or two items or
simply going shopping frequently. Maybe out of
habit. Maybe out of ignorance. Maybe out of callous. Whatever the
reason, in these times it's 'stupid' and careless.
GROCERIES / SUPPLIES / SHOPPING / DELIVERIES: We are having ALL
groceries and supplies delivered. Yes, you have to plan ahead to make
that happen, and there are commonly 'hiccups' in the process, but those
are preferable to the potential risks of going out with other members of
the public to shop (we could do 'order ahead and pick-up', but you're
going to a parking lot, that might be crowded, and potentially next to
other folks).
When groceries are delivered, some of it is 'put in quarantine' for 48
to 72 hours depending on what it's packaging is made of (there's plenty
out there on the web regarding what surfaces are less or more friendly
to the virus). If it's something that's more perishable, it gets wiped
down on EVERY surface with a 'blue shop towel' that's been soaked in
70%+ alcohol (we have Ziploc baggies with 3-4 'blue shop towels'
pre-soaked in alcohol that we simply add a bit of alcohol to when they
need it so as to note waste any). That same procedure applies to our
weekly deliveries of milk and eggs that we've always had going on.
If it's a box of supplies that we need to open quicker than the
quarantine period, it's done outside. We touch the box as little as
possible with our hands, by utilizing a razor blade or razor knife to
cut and manipulate the flaps on the box. Once we've removed the contents
and deemed it safe to handle, we then do a thorough (and now typical),
proper hand wash.
MAIL: When mail arrives, we open the mail box with a plastic baggie
(think grocery store bag / carrier bag) at the handle, or down near the corner
of the door where no one would typically be touching it, then use that baggie to bag the mail
with. That stack of mail / packages then goes to an area (without touching any
of it) in the garage lined up
with 'sticky notes' stating the date. After 3 days it gets rotated out to then
process / read. If it is something that we think need immediate attention, then
the outer packaging / envelope is wiped with alcohol soaked 'blue shop towels',
is cut open with a minimum of handling and the contents dumped to a clean
surface. The outer packing / envelope, if needed, is then either put into
quarantine with that day's mail / shipments.
FUELING UP VEHICLES: Nitrile / Vinyl / Latex gloves are donned, a container of wipes is
at the ready, as well as a container of hand sanitizer in the console. We have
our credit card and any discount card we plan to use already pulled out of
wallets / purses. The "Discount Cards" are scanned so it doesn't
physically touch anything. We use a wipe to wipe the buttons on the pump as well
as the 'Fuel Type Select' button and the handle of the pump is also wiped. The
credit card is washed with a sterile wipe after removing it and before putting
back into the vehicle. The vehicle door is left open so the door handle is not
touched. Once finished, if a receipt is give, it's given a quick wipe (as
someone loaded the roll of paper earlier), the gloves are washed in hand
sanitizer if they are to be re-used (okay in my book) or taken off 'properly'
(and there's info out there as to the correct way to remove nitrile / vinyl / latex
gloves safely). Then hands are also washed in hand sanitizer then the door is
closed and keys are handled. As of 4/7/20, in Colorado a mask or some sort of
face covering is required when out in a public space, so now a mask has become
part of that procedure. The mask is put on as a 'first step' and taken off
'last' (again, there's info out there as to the correct way to remove a
filter mask safely).
DOORS: If I must open a door to a public
building (such as dropping off any shipments to FedEx and again, we're
not really going to any 'public buildings'), I take the same
precautionary steps as getting fuel, except that I will grab door
handles by places that I know most folks aren't if it's an option
(although I realize in writing this, that I've just potentially defeated
the purpose of doing that).
DRIVING AND ACCIDENTS:
Not that we're not
careful about things all the time, but we're especially cautious now so
as not to end up in an emergency room. Also while driving to the shop
does potentially expose myself or someone else to me, during an accident
or potential traffic stop, all the more reason to exercise extreme
caution.
DR's VISITS / ROUTINE APPOINTMENTS:
They have been put
off till...? We did have an emergency vet visit a couple weeks ago. The
vet tech met us at the car in the parking lot, with gloves and mask on.
They had their own leash and we clipped our leash in before clipping theirs
off. Then the typical hand sanitizing took place. Hopefully the dog
wasn't carrying anything, but that's a possible 'weak link'.
HIKING / DOG WALKS: We are fortunate to live
about a block away from a nearly 600 acre 'open space' / park that
connects to another 2500++ acres. We take the less populated trails.
When we do 'meet' someone on a trail, we maintain a minimum of 6' and
are wearing masks (state dictated now). I pick up a lot of 'plastic'
trash / rubbish generally when hiking and if I feel it's something that
has been 'recently touched', I use one of the grocery store / carrier
bags to pick it up with to deposit in a larger bag for plastic trash I
am always carrying (and unfortunately, I can almost always fill a bag
with plastic trash from most outings. Yesterday, it's added up to 6lbs
of plastic trash / rubbish!...I weighed it)
At first we toyed with the idea of, "well maybe we should not be that
cautious, get the virus, and get it over with". Then I thought that if
we put it off as long as possible, maybe it will give time for potential
treatments / medications / vaccines etc to be discovered and come to
light. Now having read some of the personal experiences of having it, even
with light to medium symptoms, I think it's best to avoid it altogether.
I've probably forgotten others steps and procedures
that we're doing, and will post or modify them as time allows.
....
. UPDATED 4/7/2020
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The following is
an amazing read that was emailed to my wife.
Italian Clairvoyance on Coronavirus…
(The acclaimed Italian novelist
Francesca Melandri, who has been under lockdown in Rome for almost three
weeks due to the Covid-19 outbreak, has written a letter to fellow
people “from your future”, laying out the range of emotions people are
likely to go through over the coming weeks.”
“I am writing to you from
Italy, which means I am writing from your future. We are now where you
will be in a few days. The epidemic’s charts show us all entwined in a
parallel dance.
We are but a few steps ahead
of you in the path of time, just like Wuhan was a few weeks ahead of us.
We watch you as you behave just as we did. You hold the same arguments
we did until a short time ago, between those who still say “it’s only a
flu, why all the fuss?” and those who have already understood.
As we watch you from here,
from your future, we know that many of you, as you were told to lock
yourselves up into your homes, quoted Orwell, some even Hobbes. But soon
you’ll be too busy for that.
First of all, you’ll eat.
Not just because it will be one of the few last things that you can
still do.
You’ll find dozens of social
networking groups with tutorials on how to spend your free time in
fruitful ways. You will join them all, then ignore them completely after
a few days.
You’ll pull apocalyptic
literature out of your bookshelves, but will soon find you don’t really
feel like reading any of it.
You’ll eat again. You will
not sleep well. You will ask yourselves what is happening to democracy.
You’ll have an unstoppable
online social life – on Messenger, WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom…
You will miss your adult
children like you never have before; the realization that you have no
idea when you will ever see them again will hit you like a punch in the
chest.
Old resentments and
falling-outs will seem irrelevant. You will call people you had sworn
never to talk to ever again, so as to ask them: “How are you doing?”
Many women will be beaten in their homes.
You will wonder what is
happening to all those who can’t stay home because they don’t have one.
You will feel vulnerable when going out shopping in the deserted
streets, especially if you are a woman. You will ask yourselves if this
is how societies collapse. Does it really happen so fast? You’ll block
out these thoughts and when you get back home you’ll eat again.
You will put on weight.
You’ll look for online fitness training.
You’ll laugh. You’ll laugh a
lot. You’ll flaunt a gallows humour you never had before. Even people
who’ve always taken everything dead seriously will contemplate the
absurdity of life, of the universe and of it all.
You will make appointments
in the supermarket queues with your friends and lovers, so as to briefly
see them in person, all the while abiding by the social distancing
rules.
You will count all the
things you do not need.
The true nature of the
people around you will be revealed with total clarity. You will have
confirmations and surprises.
Literati who had been
omnipresent in the news will disappear, their opinions suddenly
irrelevant; some will take refuge in rationalizations which will be so
totally lacking in empathy that people will stop listening to them.
People whom you had overlooked, instead, will turn out to be reassuring,
generous, reliable, pragmatic and clairvoyant.
Those who invite you to see
all this mess as an opportunity for planetary renewal will help you to
put things in a larger perspective. You will also find them terribly
annoying: nice, the planet is breathing better because of the halved CO2
emissions, but how will you pay your bills next month?
You will not understand if
witnessing the birth of a new world is more a grandiose or a miserable
affair.
You will play music from
your windows and lawns. When you saw us singing opera from our
balconies, you thought “ah, those Italians”. But we know you will sing
uplifting songs to each other too. And when you blast I Will Survive
from your windows, we’ll watch you and nod just like the people of
Wuhan, who sung from their windows in February, nodded while watching
us.
Many of you will fall asleep
vowing that the very first thing you’ll do as soon as lockdown is over
is file for divorce.
Many children will be
conceived.
Your children will be
schooled online. They’ll be horrible nuisances; they’ll give you joy.
Elderly people will disobey
you like rowdy teenagers: you’ll have to fight with them in order to
forbid them from going out, to get infected and die.
You will try not to think
about the lonely deaths inside the ICU.
You’ll want to cover with
rose petals all medical workers’ steps.
You will be told that
society is united in a communal effort, that you are all in the same
boat. It will be true. This experience will change for good how you
perceive yourself as an individual part of a larger whole.
Class, however, will make
all the difference. Being locked up in a house with a pretty garden or
in an overcrowded housing project will not be the same. Nor is being
able to keep on working from home or seeing your job disappear. That
boat in which you’ll be sailing in order to defeat the epidemic will not
look the same to everyone nor is it actually the same for everyone: it
never was.
At some point, you will
realize it’s tough. You will be afraid. You will share your fear with
your dear ones, or you will keep it to yourselves so as not to burden
them with it too.
You will eat again.
We’re in Italy, and this is
what we know about your future. But it’s just small-scale
fortune-telling. We are very low-key seers.
If we turn our gaze to the
more distant future, the future which is unknown both to you and to us
too, we can only tell you this: when all of this is over, the world
won’t be the same.”
©
Francesca Melandri 2020
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