Now a 1/10k taken twice is 2/10k, so taken 14 thousand times it is 14k/10k. Okay so this isn't technically how you add statistics, but its close enough to see the utility in washing items.
Now a 1/10k taken twice is 2/10k, so taken 14 thousand times it is 14k/10k. Okay so this isn't technically how you add statistics, but its close enough to see the utility in washing items.
It's a flawed analogy, I admit, but with the parcel you would have to palpate its entire surface and lick the finger after every touch to infect yourself. Just touching it for the second time doesn't double the chance of infection. You may touch the same uncontaminated part you'd touched already (crossing the same numbers twice), the number of virus particles you've moved might not be enough to infect you, that you might have washed your hands in between the touches, and so on... Obviously, the more you "interact" with an item the chances grow, but certainly not as fast as you suggest. Add a time limit to all of that, and the fact that for every next item it's all back to 1/10k (second draw) - practically there's no way this number will ever grow over 1/1.
Excuse the non-fact-checked argument as I can't find a link now but I recently read that couriers and mailmen actually get ill less often than factory workers (and most of them caught the virus via airborne transmission). I don't mind if you wash everything you bring home from outside, but I don't see point in that, and certainly I wouldn't recommend that to anyone. It's wiser to focus on preventing airborne transmission than to waste time and efforts on avoiding the least probable risk.