Curbside sale (sort of) in OG 2019. No porches or yards. Paul Goldfinger photo ©
A touch device pushes a button Going overboard? Must clean the device too.
How face touching can spread the virus. Don’t forget sanitizers and hand washing and don’t touch your face while at our sale. U. of Utah.
Whether you would be on the shoppers side or the sellers side, you might be worried about participating at our Oct 3 Curbside Sales. Both sellers and shoppers would be touching objects. But, if the objects are displayed well, you can mostly visually shop. However if you touch sale items, are you at risk of catching the virus?
If you are a seller, there is no risk when you place your sales items, but at the end of the sale, you may be concerned about the remaining items which will have been touched by others.
And shoppers may be concerned about touching items that were handled by others. But it is the same sort of risk as when shopping for groceries.
Here are some basic facts that may help you decide:
a. Being outdoors with distancing is less risky than being indoors. That’s why so many people were safely eating out on Cookman Avenue over the holiday weekend or at Seagrass on Main Avenue in OG. And that’s why so many were comfortable at the Sunset Saturday Farmers Market.
b. So far I have not heard of anyone catching the virus from eating in a restaurant, either inside or out. And I have not heard of anyone catching the virus while shopping at careful stores such as Wegmans or the Apple Stores.
c. Shopping at curbside sales such as ours should not be risky if masks are worn on both sides of the table and if shoppers can look around and then move on soon so others can see. We want our sellers to set up at or near curbside and encourage shoppers to be at the street side or nearby.
We are not promoting this as a big time event, so there should not be any crowding. A few weekends ago there was a yard sale in OG which went on without a hitch. I think it was at the corner of Abbot and Costello.–Uh..it was one block from the St Paul’s Bazaar which also went off without problems.
d. Regarding catching the COVID-19 by touching objects, read this;
“The surfaces are not really the problem,” says Emanuel Goldman, a microbiology professor at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. Sanitizing surfaces has “been done to excess. And that excess actually gives people a false sense of security. And what they really should be doing is focusing on the main routes of transmission of this disease, which is breathing.”
CDC:
“Six months into the pandemic, Americans seem determined to Clorox their way to absolution. They’re wiping down soccer balls, Lysoling beach chairs, touching PIN pads with “touch tools” and gloves, and cleaning bags of Tostitos with diluted bleach.
“Which seems harmless enough, provided they’re using their cleaning products safely, but remember the most important things that will help them avoid catching the virus: Wearing masks, staying more than six feet apart, avoiding enclosed spaces.”
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told Americans in no uncertain terms that the virus is primarily transmitted person-to-person, through breathing, speaking, shouting and singing.
“While it may be possible to catch the coronavirus from a doorknob or a package, it’s a long shot, and ‘not thought to be the main way the virus spreads,’ says the agency. (It still recommends disinfecting high-touch surfaces.)”
From the Toronto General Hospital Research Institute: “The concept of washing your hands is something we always should have been doing all along, Maybe the silver lining for this pandemic is we’re going to raise a generation of children who grow up knowing that this is the norm.”
So, use your best judgement , but don’t make yourself crazy by going overboard. Loosen up a bit and start carefully enjoying life, such as attending a down-home, small town masked curbside sale. Keep your distances and when finished use sanitizer and then wash with soap and water when you can. Don’t touch your face.
Last year we made $200 at the Town Wide Yard Sale, but that’s not enough money to take a chance on catching a disease. So our motive now in OG is to add a small dose of “fun lifestyle” to our town.
And stop by 13 Mt. Hermon Way for a free souvenir. Remember “the best things in life are free.”
JO STAFFORD from “The Great Ladies of Song” album
–Paul Goldfinger, MD Editor@Blogfinger
