Do you wipe off the handle of your shopping cart?

[blackbeltninja]

^Your problems are not viral or bacterial, I assure you.

-d-

 

[blackbeltninja]

It's not an irrational fear of death. It's not wanting to come to work sick for a week or two over something that was very easily avoidable. Yes, if someone sick sneezes in my face there is not a lot I can do about it. I can do something about touching a surface that has been known to have fecal matter and e-coli bacteria on it. It takes exactly 0.5 seconds for me to do with the free sanitizing towel provided for free at the entrance to the grocery store and what I find irrational in this thread is people who get a bug up their ass about anyone's voluntary decision to do the same.

Quite simply, my argument is: why ONLY the shopping trolley?

Do you avoid lifts with other people in them? You should. You should avoid bannisters and doorknobs (and I know many people do). You should DEFINITELY avoid public transport (and public bathrooms, and the general public as well, if you can! ).

Gyms are absolutely out of the question. For G_d's sake, don't visit anyone in a hospital.

Never accept a delivery of any sort.

Don't pump your own petrol where someone else might have used the pump before you, but also don't let the petrol guy do it for you and then hand over the credit card machine for you to put your PIN in, in case Typhoid Mary herself has gobbed on the numeric keypad.

Avoid all forms of etiquette like shaking hands or talking to anyone not encased in a plastic bubble (either you or them can be in a bubble).

Don't go near schools or daycare centres or fast-food joints with small kids within 50 feet of them.

Avoid food you haven't prepared yourself. Or grown yourself. Or slaughtered yourself, and even then only where you can account for the integrity of the cold chain.

Never go into a bank or use an ATM, and especially not one of those ones inside a little vestibule.















So seriously, with all this imminent death, like, everywhere, why bother with sterilising your shopping carts?



-d-

 

[cgymike]

^Your problems are not viral or bacterial, I assure you.

-d-

Really? What are they?

You just can't accept the fact that ...... (you know the rest of it)....

 

[blackbeltninja]

Really? What are they?

Women, bisexuals, and when other people are right*.







What? You asked.

-d-
*which is most of the time

 

[cgymike]

^Absolute rubbish and you know it.

 

[Stardreamer]

Quite simply, my argument is: why ONLY the shopping trolley?

Do you avoid lifts with other people in them? You should. You should avoid bannisters and doorknobs (and I know many people do). You should DEFINITELY avoid public transport (and public bathrooms, and the general public as well, if you can! ).

Gyms are absolutely out of the question. For G_d's sake, don't visit anyone in a hospital.

Never accept a delivery of any sort.

Don't pump your own petrol where someone else might have used the pump before you, but also don't let the petrol guy do it for you and then hand over the credit card machine for you to put your PIN in, in case Typhoid Mary herself has gobbed on the numeric keypad.

Avoid all forms of etiquette like shaking hands or talking to anyone not encased in a plastic bubble (either you or them can be in a bubble).

Don't go near schools or daycare centres or fast-food joints with small kids within 50 feet of them.

Avoid food you haven't prepared yourself. Or grown yourself. Or slaughtered yourself, and even then only where you can account for the integrity of the cold chain.

Never go into a bank or use an ATM, and especially not one of those ones inside a little vestibule.















So seriously, with all this imminent death, like, everywhere, why bother with sterilising your shopping carts?



-d-

Exactly, if you are really that worried about what germs you may be exposed to then you should be wearing latex gloves and filter mask every time you leave the house.

 

[eastofeden]

So seriously, with all this imminent death, like, everywhere, why bother with sterilising your shopping carts?



-d-

There could be a million reasons why someone would choose to use a sanitary wipe on a shopping cart...and just as many motivations....last time I checked we are all individuals...

A simple reason would be that people who know they have little control over disease like to think they are doing something or taking some measure against getting ill from a surface that is known to carry a lot of bacteria....and, in fact, they are. Because they don't uniformly use it across the board means....what.....exactly? I could see the criticism if it actually made any difference at all in your life...but it doesn't and it never will.

Alot of people do ALOT of things to try to control the world around them...it is normal. Sometimes those things affect other people and deserve a closer look but when it has zero effect on your life then there might be a bigger problem at hand...and it isn't with the people who are wiping the handles on their carts.

Pssst...I would suspect that at least some of us "ignorant ones" are completely aware they could get germs in other places as well....just a hunch

- - - Updated - - -

Exactly, if you are really that worried about what germs you may be exposed to then you should be wearing latex gloves and filter mask every time you leave the house.

Really?...what else "should" "we" be doing?

 

[Kahaih]

Quite simply, my argument is: why ONLY the shopping trolley?

. . . .

Were I to guess, I'd say it has much to do with the time spent holding onto/using the handle/object.

Seems most of the other things you listed would be 'quick grab and drop' sort of situations.

 

[zoltanspawn]

A simple reason would be that people who know they have little control over disease like to think they are doing something or taking some measure against getting ill from a surface that is known to carry a lot of bacteria....and, in fact, they are. Because they don't uniformly use it across the board means....what.....exactly?

It means that people are indulging a pointless, and possibly counter-productive, fantasy fueled by exaggerated fear.

Alot of people do ALOT of things to try to control the world around them...it is normal.

It's hardly normal all the time. OCD for example. Imagine if you lived in a world where half the people around you had to tap every door three times before entering.

 

[Kahaih]

It means that people are indulging a pointless, and possibly counter-productive, fantasy fueled by exaggerated fear.



It's hardly normal all the time. OCD for example. Imagine if you lived in a world where half the people around you had to tap every door three times before entering.

Honestly, in this thread, you present as a frustrated hobo.

It's not at all hard to imagine you living in an absolutely filthy house, eating off dirty dishes, and wearing the same dirty clothes you were wearing last week.

Relax. I'm sure that there are plenty of slobs in the world who will gladly share their damp slimy grunge with you.

 

[Kulindahr]

Won't do much good against viruses.

Complex viruses, anyway -- alcohol will denature lots of simpler ones. Of course, it's the complex ones we have to worry about, so . . . yeah.

The sanitizer wipes someone bought me for my truck have a touch of ammonia to them, to cover the virus angle.

Were I to guess, I'd say it has much to do with the time spent holding onto/using the handle/object.

Seems most of the other things you listed would be 'quick grab and drop' sort of situations.

Good point -- longer contact --> higher transmission rate.

And that longer contact makes shopping cart handles different in one significant way: they build up dead skin cells and human body oils, so nasties on them have a better environment for survival than on the side of a plastic container. Alcohol is pretty effective at dissolving that mess, so using alcohol wipes is at least reducing the "refuge" of the critters.

 

[blackbeltninja]

There could be a million reasons why someone would choose to use a sanitary wipe on a shopping cart...and just as many motivations....last time I checked we are all individuals...

My point aimed to show that this may be as effective, and useful, as bring a household broom to clean up an earthquake.

And as such, if there are no wipes in your favourite supermarket the next time you're there, you shouldn't let it worry you.

-d-

 

[blackbeltninja]

Were I to guess, I'd say it has much to do with the time spent holding onto/using the handle/object.

Seems most of the other things you listed would be 'quick grab and drop' sort of situations.

It's a dry environment and thus not conducive to bacterial growth, although Kulindahr's point is taken. You'd need to leave them untouched and optimally warm for a while in order to see significant levels of growth, I'd wager.

I'd be interested to see if there has been any decrease in transmission of anything since this craze began.

-d-

 

[dereperez]

My point aimed to show that this may be as effective, and useful, as bring a household broom to clean up an earthquake.

And as such, if there are no wipes in your favourite supermarket the next time you're there, you shouldn't let it worry you.

-d-

With all due respect, I don't think anyone here was/is worried if wipes aren't available. I think most of us were saying that we sometimes use them when they are available. And why? Because it very slightly decreases a chance to get sick if we happen upon the wrong cart. It is not necessarily a reasonable thing to do...but then again it isn't overtly unreasonable either. Especially when it takes all of 5 seconds to do such a task. No one is going out of their way call in the CDC.

But then of course the devil's advocate brigade chime in about wiping doorknobs and bedknobs and broomsticks, and like to exaggerate to push a rather "whatever floats your boat" point across. One can live in relative moderation without going one extreme to another.

 

[zoltanspawn]

It is not necessarily a reasonable thing to do...but then again it isn't overtly unreasonable either.

I do some overtly unreasonable things, but then again they're not terribly overtly unreasonable.

 

[dereperez]

I do some overtly unreasonable things, but then again they're not terribly overtly unreasonable.

One man's trash is another man's treasure. You say puh-TAY-toh, I say puh-TAH-toh. Thankfully there exist different strokes for different folks.

 

[xbuzzerx]

With all due respect, I don't think anyone here was/is worried if wipes aren't available. I think most of us were saying that we sometimes use them when they are available. And why? Because it very slightly decreases a chance to get sick if we happen upon the wrong cart. It is not necessarily a reasonable thing to do...but then again it isn't overtly unreasonable either. Especially when it takes all of 5 seconds to do such a task. No one is going out of their way call in the CDC.

But then of course the devil's advocate brigade chime in about wiping doorknobs and bedknobs and broomsticks, and like to exaggerate to push a rather "whatever floats your boat" point across. One can live in relative moderation without going one extreme to another.

I actually asked my nurse friend offline about this topic and his opinion on it.

His answer (basically) was, that if anyone is forgetting to wash their produce once they get home, and handled both the produce and the cart handle, yes, it could be a problem, and that people sharing touch surfaces such as doorknobs, phones, handles, etc., and then unconsciously touching their face, mouth or nose later, is one of the primary ways the flu is spread. He also said that while a younger person probably doesn't need to "overly worry" about whatever they may get from touching something like a grocery shopping cart after a sick person did, one compelling good reason to do it is because the person who may touch the cart after you may be an elderly person or an immunocompromised person who is not going to easily shrug off whatever germs they came into contact with from something tons of people all handled without washing.

 

[blackbeltninja]

With all due respect, I don't think anyone here was/is worried if wipes aren't available. I think most of us were saying that we sometimes use them when they are available. And why? Because it very slightly decreases a chance to get sick if we happen upon the wrong cart. It is not necessarily a reasonable thing to do...but then again it isn't overtly unreasonable either. Especially when it takes all of 5 seconds to do such a task. No one is going out of their way call in the CDC.

But then of course the devil's advocate brigade chime in about wiping doorknobs and bedknobs and broomsticks, and like to exaggerate to push a rather "whatever floats your boat" point across. One can live in relative moderation without going one extreme to another.

My intent was to inform with actual science and light-heartedly point out the obvious flaws in the logic (or lack thereof), before such time as the pearl-clutching knee-jerk conservatives decide that in fact they should be calling in the CDC, and calling them routinely*.

Alas, sometimes to make the point sufficiently clear one needs to follow it to its (frequently ridiculous) extreme limit.

-d-
*Which they will.

 

[xbuzzerx]

My intent was to inform with actual science and light-heartedly point out the obvious flaws in the logic (or lack thereof), before such time as the pearl-clutching knee-jerk conservatives decide that in fact they should be calling in the CDC, and calling them routinely*.

Alas, sometimes to make the point sufficiently clear one needs to follow it to its (frequently ridiculous) extreme limit.

-d-
*Which they will.

There's a pretty enormous far cry between people who'd wipe off a cart handle before picking up food and people who are legitimately OCD germophobes. One wonders how some of the people in this thread would react to people who wash their hands so many times a day they make the skin red and cracking or wear latex gloves while in public, since apparently they consider wiping off a cart handle to be extreme and irrational.

 

[pat grimshaw]