Comment by disabled | Hacker News Reader

Comment by disabled | Hacker News Reader

Even if it is true, it is nothing to get excited over.

It is still a risky activity, almost anywhere in the US, given the infection rates.

I am female, so I just put a cover/wrap over my hair, in addition to wearing a mask, if I ever need to leave the house. (I have a beautiful natural strawberry blonde hair color—-but my hair has not been cut in ages!) It also keeps micro droplets (or aerosolated germs) from getting in my hair and infecting me, including when showering. I also wear long sleeved clothing too, even in the heat. Also, I don’t wear jewelry anymore and this helps me get cleaner. I often wear gloves, but not always. Sometimes it can be less safe.

When I arrive home, I slip off my shoes and I use a plastic bag to open the back door. (The shades are drawn in my house prior to leaving/entering the house) As soon as I get in the house, I strip completely, and throw my clothes in a garbage bag. I leave my phone on the counter, which I thoroughly clean later. I then wash my hands/arms, scrubbing away with a ton of soap. I then put on my robe/slippers and go to the shower, putting my robe and (washable!) slippers in a trash bag. Then I get in the shower and scrub away. I then get dressed in another room and put on my house slippers.

I then, using gloves and by cleaning knobs frequently and repeatedly, almost algorithmically, deal with the garbage bags and do laundry. Then I wash my phone with soap and water several times, using multiple pairs of gloves. I later wash the floors where I dumped off my clothes.

I live in the middle of one of the hardest hit cities and I do none of these things. I wear a mask, avoid indoor spaces and wash my hands a lot. End of list.

Sounds a bit excessive, put might be justified by occupation, location and personal/family risk status?

Kinda want to counterbalance all of the "wow, that's extreme" comments. I do have a new routine when I get groceries, though not quite as careful as yours. I think if I didn't, I'd always feel like my home was contaminated.

Before leaving, I open the washing-machine lid and cupboards and close the blinds. I drive to Target instead of the grocery store because it's less dense with people. Put on my mask as I get out of my car. Feel very contaminated in the store, hands pushing the shopping cart, touching everything, paying attention to my breathing and everyone near me. I do take off my mask in the car, and often just leave it there because it will be days before I use it again. I'm often sweating and feel like virus is dripping down my face and my hands are smearing it over my steering wheel.

When I get back home, I drop the grocery bags on the linoleum in the entry way, and use hand sanitizer. Take off my clothes and put them in the washer. Put bags with non-perishable items into a cupboard for a couple days. Put fridge/freezer bags on a particular counter. Wash my hands in the kitchen sink. Put cold items in fridge/freezer (I used to disinfect them, but stopped out of laziness). Spray counter with disinfectant, wipe and dry it; wipe down any handles/switches I touched. Wash hands again. (Sometimes I've washed them three times by then.) Start washing machine. Take a shower.

If I just go to the park, I don't wear a mask or anything. If I grab some booze at the liquor store, I wear a mask. In either case, I wash my hands when I get back, but don't necessarily shower or wash my clothes because I don't feel like the odds of contamination are very high and I probably won't put the pants on for several days anyway..

I promise you, you can't get sick from "droplets getting in my hair and infecting me". Nor can you get sick from touching something infected. Just don't put your hands in your mouth/eyes/ears/nose. Wash your hands when you get home and before you eat, don't let anyone sneeze in your face, and you'll be good.

I'm not trying to be mean, but the above seriously sounds like a kind of mental illness. You should see someone.

This routine is insane.

You'll get 99+% of the possible wins in reducing your chance of being infected simply by avoiding being indoors with others as much as possible, wearing masks when you are unable to do so (e.g. when grocery shopping), and by staying away from large crowds outdoors except when wearing masks.

So agreed, this routine is excessive. Instead of going to all of this hassle, just source N99 masks and wear them when in unavoidable close proximity to other people. Boom, you're practically guaranteed not to get it.

> You'll get 99+% of the possible wins

Can you provide hard evidence for the 99% number? It agrees with my intuition, but I don't think we have a very complete view of the effectiveness of different measures, and in the absense of such evidence it seems strange to authoritative call someone else's measures "excessive".

To be clear, I don't think what the commenter is doing is very useful, but I can't prove it either.

> Boom, you're practically guaranteed not to get it.

Not without eye protection you're not. You're also practically guaranteed to wear the respirator incorrectly. Wearing them correctly requires training, absence of facial hair and enduring a very significant degree of discomfort.

You're completely ignoring the part about not being indoors with others unless necessary. You're practically talking about dressing up in a biohazard bunny suit like you're going into a COVID ward, but that's just flat-out not necessary if you aren't remotely putting yourself into those kinds of hotspot situations to begin with. I assure you, someone taking these kinds of sanitizing precautions is already not putting themselves into close contact with other people, and is thus already getting most of the gains even being considering masks at all. Then add on wearing a good mask when necessary and you reach the 99+%.

I deliberately made no comment on the necessity of wearing the respirator in the first place - that's a separate question. I'm simply saying that if you're going to the trouble of actually wearing a respirator, do it properly.

As for the need for them - anything at or above the N95 respirator level (including eye protection) is only useful in environments with a high probability of contamination. That's mostly healthcare facilities with known C19 patients (particularly in proximity to aerosol-generating procedures), patient rooms, etc.

EDIT: I think I may have misunderstood the intent of your original post. You said "N99", so I assumed you were actually talking about respirators. If you just meant surgical masks, we're mostly in agreement.

You missed out handwashing, which is an important part of preventing the spread of infection.

Please don't break the site guidelines like this. Note that they contain: When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names. "That is idiotic; 1 + 1 is 2, not 3" can be shortened to "1 + 1 is 2, not 3."

Following that rule, your comment would shortened to nothing, therefore you should not have posted it.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Unless you are a health care worker where you are around people that are known positive, this is extremely excessive.

In most places except Florida, Texas and California, the probability of running into someone with covid-19 is low. Unless someone coughs in the vicinity around you, the probability of getting it is even lower.

If you’re really concerned, sanitize your hands and phone when you come into the house with hand sanitizer. Leave a bottle outside if you want.

Then take off all your clothes and put it in the dryer. The dryer at 70C is hot enough to kill the virus to undetectable levels in less than 5 mins.

You don’t need to take a shower, just sanitize your hands. If you’re concerned about your hair, wear a baseball cap and put that in the dryer with the rest of your clothes.

>You don’t need to take a shower, just sanitize your hands.

This is basically my routine, if I've been out and touching things other people are likely touching then I get in, take my shoes off and go straight to bathroom and wash my hands.

Then live my life as normal.

When I get groceries delivered I wipe the stuff down I can with some wipes before putting them in fridge or cupboard.

I don't think you need to do much more than that. Mainly you want to avoid being in doors close to other people.

If it makes them feel comfortable enough to go outside, I think it's fine. Like it's not like they're donning a full hazmat suit to get groceries, it's basically just shower and wash clothes which doesn't sound that extreme you do it anyways.

I think if people are going overboard because they don’t understand the science of it, I think it’s good to point it out and present alternatives.

I don’t do it. I sanitize my hands and wear a mask, that’s about it. I don’t wear my shoes indoors so I don’t worry about my shoes.

But if I hear anyone around me cough I literally run away even though I wear a mask. If I’m in a store I will drop everything and leave. Luckily in the 6 months of this pandemic I’ve only heard people cough 2-3 times.

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