[conspire] Panic buying

[Peter Knaggs]

There was an entertaining video from China showing how someone had placed
toothpicks in the elevator for patrons to use to press the buttons. I guess
it isn't a recommended approach, but it made me wonder whether carrying a
metal object as well as a lighter would allow pressing elevator buttons and
subsequently heating up the metal using the lighter so that the virus gets
killed. A better design might perhaps be a metal rod enclosed in a
ultra-violet emitting enclosure: once the rod has been used to press the
elevator button, it could be pulled back inside the enclosure where the VUC
would kill virus that happened to get onto it, making it suitable for reuse
without causing spread of the virus. Perhaps a silly idea, but they do have
keyboards that use a similar VUC approach to rid themselves of viruses
after each use.

On Sun, Mar 22, 2020 at 8:03 PM Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com> wrote:

> 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.
>
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