The Corona Plague 2020 - Safety Tips

The information here might be outdated 

(4 Jan 2020)

Here are a few tips, coming from a person (me) who is both suffering from a weakened immune system, and also has some technical proficiency and a bit of common sense. (*)

Treating food and other shopping items

Items bought from the supermarket or other stores could very well be contaminated, either from careless handling by the staff, or from other shoppers coughing at it, and so on. 

Tip 1. Avoid unpackaged food, especially products that can't be washed (such as unwrapped bread or cheese sliced at the deli counter). They are usually exposed to all shoppers, and you are going to eat them... 

Tip 2. Wash all fruits and vegetables in soapy water (and then rinse). 

Tip 3. Wash all damp packaged products (milk bottles, yogurt cups, etc.) in soapy water. Especially the lid area, that will come in contact with the food inside when pouring. Reason: these items could carry live viruses for a long time, since they are damp and cool. When you pour milk or eat yogurt at the table, you don't want the containers to contaminate your hands or the food that's in them (when pouring it out).  

Tip 4. Wipe all dry packaged products with a soapy cloth (and then dry). This applies to things such as cereal boxes or cans of tuna. (This is probably less important if you don't intend to use these right away, since the virus tends to die quite rapidly in dry air.)

Wearing a breathing mask 

For those wearing eyeglasses, the mask usually creates a lot of fog.  

Another problem with most masks (for most people) is the bad air seal (so unfiltered air enters from the edges of the mask). 

Here is a solution to both these problems: tape. 

You should use medical tape with weak glue (often this is made of paper). It is also recommended to rub some skin moisturizer on the nose and under the eyes, to avoid pain and skin damage when removing the tape. (One should balance the amount of lotion -- between skin damage and loss of adhesion.)

This taping arrangement can work for hours, giving fogless eyeglasses and improved filtering. See pictures below.

Due to the shortage of masks, I reuse my masks. After a day of wearing a mask, I soak it in a strong detergent, then rinse it in cold water, and hang to dry overnight. 

Links:

US CDC information page 

Australian Health Dept 

(*) Disclaimer: I do not have approval from medical or scientific sources for this information.