More virulent new Covid strain - quarantine

[Jonetc15]

We seem to have been told two facts about the new, more virulent strain of Covid-19: that (a) it is (approximately 70%) more virulant and therefore more transmissible than the initial Covid-19 strain, but (b) those infected are not more seriously ill than if they had caught the initial strain.

If what I've said aboveI correctly states the position, albeit simplistically, then for me the question arises as to what further steps should we take to avoid the second strain - specifically, quarantining anything brought into our homes such as shopping and post/parcel deliveries.

My wife and I follow what we have understood to be the original scientific 72 hour guidance (receiving regular food deliveries in slots guaranteed because of age and my major medical problem). We immediately wash any items that have to be put in the fridge or freezer or we'll need in less than 72 hours. We are also careful to use gloves to open mail and parcels, leaving contents of parcels in quarantine.

I'll be very grateful to know whether, due to the new, more virulent strain, 72 hours is still the appropriate time for quarantining. (We have only gone out for medical/dental appointments and my wife occasionally to a farm shop.)

TIA

Jon

[Urbandreamer]

We seem to have been told two facts about the new, more virulent strain of Covid-19: that (a) it is (approximately 70%) more virulant and therefore more transmissible than the initial Covid-19 strain, but (b) those infected are not more seriously ill than if they had caught the initial strain.

If what I've said aboveI correctly states the position, albeit simplistically, then for me the question arises as to what further steps should we take to avoid the second strain - specifically, quarantining anything brought into our homes such as shopping and post/parcel deliveries.

My wife and I follow what we have understood to be the original scientific 72 hour guidance (receiving regular food deliveries in slots guaranteed because of age and my major medical problem). We immediately wash any items that have to be put in the fridge or freezer or we'll need in less than 72 hours. We are also careful to use gloves to open mail and parcels, leaving contents of parcels in quarantine.

I'll be very grateful to know whether, due to the new, more virulent strain, 72 hours is still the appropriate time for quarantining. (We have only gone out for medical/dental appointments and my wife occasionally to a farm shop.)

TIA

Jon

I think that the simple answer is that "nobody knows". The R4 statistical program "more-or-less" did an explanation of how the 70% more "virulent" figure was arrived at, and there is no part of that which might answer why it's more infectious. Indeed were it more deadly rather than infectious it might even kill less people.

As I understand it the 72 hours is a figure plucked out of the air. How fast the virus degrades upon surfaces will depend upon a huge number of factors. Absorbent surfaces, ie cardboard, draw stuff away from the surface meaning that there is less chance of collecting the virus by contact. Surfaces that are not absorbent can have it removed, by washing as you do. UV light (sunlight) degrades the virus.

If you want to take extra precautions then you might consider getting an ozone generator and running it in the area that you quarantine deliveries. I wouldn't because I would regard it as overkill. However ozone does rapidly degrade coronaviruses.

[dealtn]

We immediately wash any items that have to be put in the fridge or freezer or we'll need in less than 72 hours. We are also careful to use gloves to open mail and parcels, leaving contents of parcels in quarantine.

How, and with what, do you wash them?

Soapy water, or alcohol, will increase the chances of any virus present being killed.

[Bouleversee]

I started off in March doing most of the things the OP mentioned but I read that newspapers, mail etc. were not in fact dangerous and relaxed quite a bit. Apart from groceries I rarely have anything delivered and I just isolate the contents in a spare room for a while. Is it really necessary to wash things going into the freezer which won't be taken out for some days? Perhaps I should tighten up again especially as I daresay it is only a matter of time before the Brazilian version is brought into this country and the vaccine won't necessarily prevent you from getting infected or passing it on.

[sg31]

I started off in March doing most of the things the OP mentioned but I read that newspapers, mail etc. were not in fact dangerous and relaxed quite a bit. Apart from groceries I rarely have anything delivered and I just isolate the contents in a spare room for a while. Is it really necessary to wash things going into the freezer which won't be taken out for some days? Perhaps I should tighten up again especially as I daresay it is only a matter of time before the Brazilian version is brought into this country and the vaccine won't necessarily prevent you from getting infected or passing it on.

The virus deteriorates extremely slowly in freezers.

We started being very careful with things coming into the house but are less so now. Shopping other than fresh goods goes into the garage for a minimum of 3 days. That was probably ok in summer but in the depths of winter I doubt it makes any difference. We still do it out of habit.

Fresh food we clean as best we can but in practice I don't think it makes it much difference other than to make us feel we are doing what we can

[redsturgeon]

I started off in March doing most of the things the OP mentioned but I read that newspapers, mail etc. were not in fact dangerous and relaxed quite a bit. Apart from groceries I rarely have anything delivered and I just isolate the contents in a spare room for a while. Is it really necessary to wash things going into the freezer which won't be taken out for some days? Perhaps I should tighten up again especially as I daresay it is only a matter of time before the Brazilian version is brought into this country and the vaccine won't necessarily prevent you from getting infected or passing it on.

The virus deteriorates extremely slowly in freezers.

We started being very careful with things coming into the house but are less so now. Shopping other than fresh goods goes into the garage for a minimum of 3 days. That was probably ok in summer but in the depths of winter I doubt it makes any difference. We still do it out of habit.

Fresh food we clean as best we can but in practice I don't think it makes it much difference other than to make us feel we are doing what we can

It is always good to be careful but recent research has shown that fomite transmission of Covid is much less likely than originally suspected.

John

[johnhemming]

It is always good to be careful but recent research has shown that fomite transmission of Covid is much less likely than originally suspected.

I would be careful about breathing air which has been heated where someone with the virus may have breathed out. This is generally indoors where the heating is on so the relative humidity is low. The virus can hang around for quite some time so it is not just an issue about standing two metres away and in fact in some ways is more an issue about not breathing in what others have breathed out rather than distance per se.

Masks reduce this, but not to zero.

[Lootman]

I started off in March doing most of the things the OP mentioned but I read that newspapers, mail etc. were not in fact dangerous and relaxed quite a bit. Apart from groceries I rarely have anything delivered and I just isolate the contents in a spare room for a while. Is it really necessary to wash things going into the freezer which won't be taken out for some days? Perhaps I should tighten up again especially as I daresay it is only a matter of time before the Brazilian version is brought into this country and the vaccine won't necessarily prevent you from getting infected or passing it on.

The virus deteriorates extremely slowly in freezers.

We started being very careful with things coming into the house but are less so now. Shopping other than fresh goods goes into the garage for a minimum of 3 days. That was probably ok in summer but in the depths of winter I doubt it makes any difference. We still do it out of habit.

Fresh food we clean as best we can but in practice I don't think it makes it much difference other than to make us feel we are doing what we can

Yes, we are also less careful about such things these days. If it was really so easy to catch the virus that eating a tomato that somebody else touched a day earlier would do it, then we would all have it by now. And the distribution of the virus would be much more random than it really is.

Last Spring I was washing everything and leaving items alone that came into the house within 3 days. But then we did not know so much back then and were paranoid. I don't bother with that for the most part now as it has become more clear that the main transmission vector is airborne, indoors.

And just because the new strain is more infectious does not mean it sits around longer on bananas or letters.

[88V8]

We've never bothered with quarantining incoming objects.
Not even the cat.
We wash our hands after shopping and after putting away the shopping, that's it and has been ab initio.

As many times commented, it's an airborne srisk. That's why I was wanging on about ventilation a while ago.

The risk of fomite transmission has been very much exaggerated, all that wiping, largely a waste of time except that it serves to remind us there is risk out there.
Read all about it in the Lancet https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/laninf/PIIS1473-3099(20)30561-2.pdf

A clinically significant risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) transmission by fomites (inanimate surfaces or objects) has been assumed on the basis of studies that have little resemblance to real-life scenarios.

V8