Coronavirus is spread from infected people to droplets of saliva when they cough, sneeze, or talk. But the Sars-CoV-2 virus can also be transmitted via infected objects. So, is it possible to contaminate your home with your groceries?
No study has looked specifically at this issue. However, research has focused on the lifespan of the virus on surfaces such as steel, plastic and cardboard. Materials that can be found on shopping bags and food packaging.
This study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), reveals that the coronavirus can survive up to 4 hours on copper, up to 24 hours on cardboard and up to 3 days on plastic and steel.
The researchers nevertheless point out that the presence of the virus on these surfaces does not necessarily rhyme with contagiousness, because its viral load decreases over time. They are therefore unable to say "How much virus is really needed to infect a human being, or if the virus is easily transferable from a carton to a hand when you touch a package for example", as Dylan Morris, co-author of the study, explains.
Sars-CoV-2 virus: rules to follow in the supermarket
Faced with these uncertainties, caution is advised. In addition to barrier gestures such as washing your hands very frequently or coughing in the crease of your elbow, it is essential to take certain precautions when going out to the supermarket, namely:
- go to the supermarket at the least visited hours
- bring your shopping bag holder or your own shopping cart
- respect a safety distance of at least 1.5 meters with others
- use hydroalcoholic gel regularly
- do not touch his face with his hands
What about wearing gloves at the supermarket? Experts don't necessarily recommend wearing it. "The glove works like a second skin, if I have contact with the virus, I will keep my gloves until I take them off when I get home … I will spread the virus in the same way as with bare hands", explains Bruno Grandbastien, president of the French Society of hospital hygiene, at World. The same goes for masks.
If these accessories reassure you, you can still wear them. However, they do not provide the hygiene and safety gestures previously mentioned.
Coronavirus: precautions to take when returning from shopping
To avoid possible contamination of your interior when you return home with your shopping bags, it is recommended to:
- place your shopping on the floor, not on the kitchen worktop or on the dining room table;
- wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water as soon as you enter the door;
- remove all unnecessary packaging and dispose of it immediately;
- disinfect packaging that cannot be removed, such as yogurt pots;
- rinse thoroughly any foods that may be, such as fruits and vegetables, as other customers may have touched them;
- baking foods that can be baked like bread because "heat treatment at 63 ° C for 4 min allows to divide by 10,000 the contamination of a food product", can we read on the ANSES website.
As a reminder, you must have the special travel certificate if you go to the supermarket. Only "essential purchases" are authorized, the aim being to leave the home as little as possible, in order to stem the epidemic of coronavirus.
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