DETROIT – Many people are looking at the chores they do every day -- getting the mail, taking out the trash, doing laundry -- and wondering if they need to take extra precautions due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Local 4′s Dr. Frank McGeorge has some advice on handling these tasks safely.
You don’t need to take any special precautions with any packages or mail. In particular, there’s no need to handle your mail with gloves.
As with any garbage, throwing your mail out in your regular trash can is completely fine.
As an aside, everyone should naturally assume garbage is contaminated -- not because of coronavirus, but because it’s garbage and contains decomposing material.
The amount of cleaning it takes to eliminate the coronavirus isn’t onerous. While viruses can survive on surfaces for hours to days, they are also very sensitive to common disinfectants.
If something is visibly soiled, the heavy contamination should be removed more thoroughly with soap and water. But for ordinary, commonly touched surfaces, a good wipe down using a common disinfectant is enough.
No special precautions need to be taken for laundry except to avoid shaking clothes out before you launder them to minimize any dispersal of contaminated debris.