22 MARCH, 2020 - DELIVERIES, AND SERVICES
NOTE: There are five "in-process" postings laying in the wings here, I simply cannot stop the incoming info long enough to verify-research and create them.
Living ashore we always had gates, signs reading "Entry by Appointment Only", and ""Never Knock...Leave a Note" signs posted. Aboard So...fea, it is not much different, we live in a gated harbor, have water all around us, and a locked Transom, Our ships bell acts as a doorbell, and "Knocking" is to be ignored and your name to be removed from the boarding list. (20th Century style knocking on a boat is more insulting and aggressive than doing so on a house).
Our land or harbor deliveries have always been "no contact"... but, with COVID19 they are "leave-on-the-dock"... sterilized boxes are opened, and the contents wiped safe before being set aboard for handling and stowage.
Moving to the Northwest in our early 30's, we were instantly educated on "wet" and "mud"... being outdoors types with dogs and kids it did not take long to smell the carpet, on removing it for replacement, the disgusting filth and mold underneath quickly moved us to one-piece vinyl for life (tile and interlock flooring are bad as well), Having firstly fought "mud" being tracked in, and living through the Hanta, Black Mold, then Fungal invasions showed us just how invasive/pervasive footprints truly are, so we soon tied the issue of "shoes" as being a true source of contamination. (dog feet are another subject entirely).
Bringing the outdoors in is a huge consideration when looking at your living space, if you are in a camper, a travel trailer, bus, boat or motor home the small space becomes lethal (air circulation and exchange, carpet, upholstery, boots-shoes and outer wear, humidity level, pets, children, and cooking all becomes cumulative and highly concentrated.
Many world cultures are "no shoes" house people, and sanitary boot-wipe trays on horse, cattle, poultry, hog, sheep farms are common (leave the bacteria/virus/mud out of our living space).
Both Hanta and Covid19 (like H1N1) are "aerosols"... the best graphic explanation I can give is a real experience... remodeling a bedroom in a cabin, the wall board taped seams needed sanding (very messy and wear-a-mask nasty), after cutting the baseboards the floor is covered in plaster dust and sawdust. The cleanup crew arrives in the morning and notices all the little mouse prints in the dust (hammering all day must have upset them), they simply sweep and, up and leave, all get Hanta. Their dusty clothes infect their families, and the next crew (using their brooms) on another jobsite infect themselves as well.
Aerosol in that case was easy to comprehend as dust), but in a cough or a crowded room/store, not so much.
UPS, FedEx, and XPO Logistics are three of the largest shipping and logistics companies (other than the US Mail) that collectively deliver about 18 trillion dollars’ worth of goods every year, sorting all those boxes, loading food, medicine, clothes, toys, tools and a million other items into trucks for delivery.
Over the road and delivery truck drivers disseminate these warehoused goods to local supermarkets, Pharmacies, Medical facilities, onto the doorsteps, into building lobbies, and supporting industries of all kinds, the workers at those places receive, inventory, stock, sell, then check-out those wares to us consumers., who haul them into our nest.
But the first thing you want to do is "not" inadvertently bring COVID into your nest.
Delivered mail, and shipped boxes staring at you are at the "end" of their journey now... they have been handled, coughed on (or worse), slid across infected surfaces that Never-ever get cleaned, much lest sterilized, and they need to "not" come into your home... the products inside also are questionable... do the diligence.
Order-in foods have containers...that have been touched by people you don't know, (they had to get touched to get them to your house), Dr. Mehmet Oz says "You need to discard those containers at the door, pour out the ingredients, the food in those containers are clean, but, get rid of those containers."... and, really consider "who" is cooking and serving that food, Are they working sick ?
On another topic, we have been guided to three documentaries (we usually do not watch documentaries), regarding Viruses, the first was US CDC inspired by the Australian Government in 2003-2005, and is a primer or the next two (newer) movies.
"The Coming Pandemic", "The Next Pandemic", and "Explained" are a 2005, 2017 and 2019 documentary series about N1H1 Flu and how it morphed into COVID 19. I got mine on Amazon Prime Video, and YouTube (both), FREE, if you really have interest in this Viral outbreak and how it "really" works, they are worth watching.