[conspire] Panic buying

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Texx (texxgadget at gmail.com):

> With all the panic buying, Im surprised that Costco is no fold out of exam
> gloves.
> 
> We havent bought yet.  Im surprised that they havent been bought out.
> Going out into a contaminated world, peeling off and tossing once you get
> home.

That'd be a bit dumb.  {sigh}

When you go out on errands, consistently practice social distancing[1],
touch as few publicly-touched surfaces as you can reasonably manage[2],
and _do not touch your face_.  When you are done and have returned to
private space, immediately wash your hands in CDC-recommended fashion
(the bit where you rinse, turn the water off, lather with soap for a
full 20 seconds scrubbing all of your hands including the backs of the
hands and between the fingers, and then rinsing off the soap).

The aim is _not_ to avoid even a small possibility of touching with your
hands surfaces that might be contaminated.  The aim is to avoid
transporting virus from surfaces to your hands to your _face_ -- which,
short of standing right next to an infected person and breathing in
exhaled droplets, is the only plausible way to get infected.

I am surprised and disappointed that I have to review this.

If you are rich and have an endless supply of nitrile gloves that you
are willing to waste, sure, do that, too.  The rest of us will just use
logic and science.


[1] To review, people walking around shedding SARS-CoV-2 virus,
including those who are asymptomatic, exhale moist particles that go
typically only about 1 metre from their faces before settling to the
ground.  Staying 2 metres away -- or 6 feet away if you're still stuck
in the 20th Century -- gives you a 50% margin of safety against
breathing in those droplets.

[2] I leave in the family car a roll of paper towels so that I can carry
a panel or two of paper towels to do things like manipulate door
handles and gasoline nozzles, and keep a pen or two in my pocket for
things like pressing elevator buttons.