CoVid19 Part XII - 4,604 in ROI (137 deaths) 998 in NI (56 deaths)(04/04) **Read OP**

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Cocooning sounds a bit like spooning

Heiser wrote: »

My partner is a Healthcare Assistant and is now working on wards with positive cases.

I'm now really nervous about her getting it. She was given no training on how to put the PPE on properly and was only given a surgical mask to wear yesterday (although she was working in an area with people waiting to get tested, rather than purely with positive cases like today). All this for 16 quid an hour.

I have to say I'm really nervous for her and I'm also very nervous for my health, I have bad asthma.

I think I might have to isolate away from her from now, but this could go on for months. Are there any other partners of healthcare workers on here?
How are you approaching your living arrangements? Is it carry on as normal or are you isolating away from your partners?

I suppose I should be isolating but practically can this be done for months on end when your living in the same apartment?

podgeandrodge wrote: »

For what it's worth, an interview that The Sun published that Sean O'Rourke had on, might be of interest to those shopping...

Coronavirus Ireland: Expert on risk of catching virus while shopping in the supermarket


Kim Roberts, a lecturer at Trinity College Dublin, said that there is a risk of picking up Covid-19 at the shops but that risk is low.


Speaking to Sean O'Rourke on RTE Radio One, the assistant professor said that the biggest risk is what you are touching inside the shops.

Ms Roberts said: "The biggest risk is in the actual activity of doing your shopping, so if you are travelling on public transport it's about trying to maintain the two metre social distance from everyone else.

"If you are walking around the corner then obviously the risk is lower. When you go into the shop, when you touch the doors, freezers trolleys, those are all high touch surfaces that lot's of people would have touched so there's a risk there.

"So when I go out shopping, I assume as soon as I leave my house that my hands are dirty, so I wash my hands before I leave, so I go out the door assuming my hands are dirty and don't touch my face and touch as little surfaces as possible.

"If I assume my hands are dirty I am less likely to touch my face, my eyes, my nose and am therefore reducing my transmission risk.

"When you are in the shop the chances of a particular tin can you are picking up or a pack of cornflakes having a high enough amount of virus on them to cause a transmission is really low.

"Those individual shopping items are not seen as high risk.

"Everything we do has a risk. Somebody might have directly sneezed onto that tin can but that is unlikely to have happened."

The Trinity lecturer believes that wearing gloves do little to protect people and in some cases increase the risk of transmission.

She added: "Gloves can actually increase transmission risk. If we are touching stuff with gloves it is the exact same risk as without them on our hands.

"It gives us a false sense of security and people take higher risks."

Once you arrive home with the groceries, Ms Roberts doesn't think it's necessary to do a deep clean of items.

The Trinity lecturer said: "When you come back into the house wash you hands straight away, I would then put the shopping away immediately.

"Then I'd wash my hands again.

"I wouldn't(wash down the tins and food) because I personally believe that the chances someone sneezed or coughed on them is very low.

"But when I'm cooking I would wash my hands repeatedly.

"The virus isn't destroyed by cold temperatures, so putting it in the fridge or freezer won't kill it, but cooking will.

"The virus can theoretically survive on cardboard for up to 24 hours but that is very high dosages, normally it would be just a few hours."