Are you seeing a decrease in sanitation efforts in your area?

[disneychrista]

Since it is primarily an air borne transmittable disease the time and effort could be better spent in other areas. Plus the additional costs are only adding to the "inflated" costs we are spending at the grocery store.

 

[sam_gordon]

You could be right, of course, but anecdotally, I haven't had so much as the sniffles since 2019. Vaxed, boosted, masked (still sometimes) and modest use of hand sanitizer in public spaces and I haven't had Covid, a cold, the flu or Norovirus. Even though I never stopped going to work, shopping, eating out and have traveled by air many times in '20, '21, and '22, and have gone on two cruises in the past 8 weeks.

Knock on wood, I haven't had covid. Vaxed (not boosted), haven't had a mask on in months, no (very little) hand sanitizer used. I have had sniffles, but more than likely caused by allergies. Just a theory I have, and as I said, nothing to back it up.

 

[xdan0920]

Has anyone noticed a decrease in sanitation efforts in your area? Two years ago all businesses talked about was how they've increased their cleaning efforts. My local grocery store had someone dedicated to wiping down shopping carts and they had wipes you could use. Being the germaphobe I am even before covid I thought it was great.

Now? I was at Universal last week and they had empty hand sanitizer dispensers. Do they still wipe down air plane seats after every flight? Things are back to the old at my grocery store as well. Yes things have more normalized since the start of covid, but people are still dirty. It was nice while it lasted. It's all a bit disappointing.

Thankfully, and for the good of public health, yes. The sanitizing efforts have slowed or ceased entirely.

 

[tvguy]

Not wiping carts down at the grocery store anymore.....it has been a few months.
They do have wipes by the carts, but they always have.
I still carry my hand sanitizer with me and use it when I leave any store

Same here. No mass cleaning of carts, but they have the wipes by the door.

 

[tvguy]

, I haven't had so much as the sniffles since 2019.

Same here. I used to get 2 to 3 colds a year. Hand washing and hand sanitizer a big part of that. I only wear a mask about half the time now, but of course the mask doesn't protect me, it protects others from me.

 

[Southernmiss]

There has been a summer cold going around here that has hit a lot of folks hard.

About 2 weeks ago, dd, then dh and I all had allergy symptoms at the same time. I was exhausted for about 5 days. I think we all caught something.

For dh and I, it was our first 'something' in about 3 years.

Dd caught something in late September at college-her first something in 2 years. It sent her to the doctor for an ear infection and tough symptoms.

I am more conscious of keeping more distances between me and others- hopefully, that's helping .

 

[loves to dive]

Our local Kroger always had hand wipes at the door and around the meat section and the fruit section, so you could wipe down your cart and your hands after you have touched chicken and such. Still do. They also still have hand sanitizer at the entrance/exit. At least one local bank has always had a huge auto hand sanitizer machine at their entrance in the before times and still do. I came home from Disney in April with a horrible cold, caught it mid trip so I ended up having to wear a mask even outdoors (didn't want to pass it on) and continued to wear one in public up to about 2 to 3 weeks after I got home since I still had a stuffy nose. I had been to Disney 3 times before that since Covid and that was the first time I came home sick but it was also the first time I'd been since all the mask rules had been lifted. They were still required on the bus up to the middle of my trip, I think I was the only one on the bus wearing one (again didn't want to infect anyone) and I was sanitizing my hands before I touched anything just to make sure I didn't pass on anything as well. I think because this is a college town, businesses that cater to the public have always had wipes and hand sanitizer out because, well, college kids.

 

[disneychrista]

Same here. I used to get 2 to 3 colds a year. Hand washing and hand sanitizer a big part of that. I only wear a mask about half the time now, but of course the mask doesn't protect me, it protects others from me.

Masks do help protect you, how can they not? If they can’t stop something from getting out, how can they not help prevent things from coming in?

 

[tvguy]

Masks do help protect you, how can they not? If they can’t stop something from getting out, how can they not help prevent things from coming in?

I agree. But I didn't want to have my comments lost in a mask debate.

 

[_19disnA]

Our grocery store had hand wipes at the entrance long before anyone knew what covid was. When covid first started, they had employees at the entrance wiping down every cart. But recall also there were no vaccines at first, so things like masks, wipes, hand sanitizers, shielding for cashiers were basically the most of what preventative measures could be done. With more people now vaccinated it makes sense that some other measures have been reduced. They still have hand wipes at the entrance and many people continue to wear face masks.

The anti-mask types can do whatever they like. We will continue to follow the recommended guidelines and likely will ALWAYS keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in the car. We view using hand sanitizer as something like buckling your seat belt and just something we will continue to do going forward even after covid is no longer an issue.

 

[Christine]

Masks do help protect you, how can they not? If they can’t stop something from getting out, how can they not help prevent things from coming in?

Because the particles that come out are much larger than the particles that come in. When you exhale, your breath droplets are still rather large as droplets go. If you are sick, the smaller virus particles are "bound up" in the exhalation droplets. A mask is pretty good at stopping these. Once a droplet is loose; however, it begins to break apart due to air currents, humidity levels, etc. This is where your larger droplets become aerosolized and any virus is now free of the surrounding droplet. At this point the virus particles as well as other particles you exhale are really, really, really tiny. At this point the mask you are wearing, depending on what type it is, become really ineffective at stopping it. The N95's are about the best you can get on the market. Even they won't stop everything.

That said, even if a mask is only stopping say 12% of something coming in, I'll take it. Viral load also plays a lot into how sick you get.

 

[SirDuff]

Could be a few reasons:
1. Antibiotic use--rampant in 1st world countries.
2. Exposure to toxins
3. Highly processed diet
4. Certain infections
5. Genetic traits in one then passed down over and over (maybe in 3rd world countries those with autoimmune don't live long enough to pass it down).

Lots of factors and not always about being too clean.

6. They rarely actually have the capacity to test (and there, lack the ability to diagnose). I mean, we are talking about countries (which, by the way, are no longer referred to as "third world", where it isn't uncommon for the majority of health facilities to lack the ability to measure hemoglobin or blood sugar, they are certainly not doing ANA tests.

To your first point, antibiotic use is actually really high in a lot of low-income/lower-middle income countries. It's a massive global issue.

 

[mrodgers]

Hasn't it been "decided"/"claimed"/"proven" that Covid is not passed from touch? So wiping things down does nothing to help stop the spread?

I have a theory (with absolutely NOTHING to back it up) that the constant cleaning and disinfecting that was going on BEFORE Covid actually hurt. Sure, it kept germs away, but at the price of keeping our bodies from figuring out how to fight off simple diseases. Again, just my theory, and I'm sure it wouldn't take much to poke holes in it.

I share your theory that constant disinfecting is bad for you. Exabit A is my then germaphobe wife slathering herself and 2 girls with hand sanitizer constantly. All 3 were sick all the time. I have never used hand sanitizer and I rarely get sick.

 

[LuvOrlando]

OP, humans are gross so I continue to select carts from outside whenever I can and use my own wipes, which are compostable. I also wipedown my groceries, my Grandma who had TB from the Great Depression sweatshop days used to tell me to do it, I didn't listen when I was younger but now I do.

Then why do people living in filthy environments in 3rd world countries have far less auto immune diseases than we see in the US

No Dr's to diagnose or care because no-one can make money from poor people would be my best guess. Most research points to these illnesses being "long haul" remnants of other viruses, you can find info if so inclined, no research I can find is looking at lack of disease causing disease but anything is possible I suppose.

 

[Weedy]

Could be a few reasons:
1. Antibiotic use--rampant in 1st world countries.
2. Exposure to toxins
3. Highly processed diet
4. Certain infections
5. Genetic traits in one then passed down over and over (maybe in 3rd world countries those with autoimmune don't live long enough to pass it down).

Lots of factors and not always about being too clean.

The homeless population in the US did not have high rates of covid

 

[LuvOrlando]

The homeless population in the US did not have high rates of covid

Well there are quite a few dying from Fentanyl and other really horrible things and that might skew results and distort conclusions quite a bit.

 

[mom2rtk]

The homeless population in the US did not have high rates of covid

We’re the testing at the same rate as everyone else?

 

[Christine]

The homeless population in the US did not have high rates of covid

I'm not really sure what your response means. I listed several factors that can contribute to autoimmune disorders so I don't understand how infections rates of the homeless regarding COVID is related.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Screens are disappearing. Temperature readings are disappearing. Required tests are disappearing.

And just to add insult to injury, the local council has declared war on the rubbish collectors, so trash is spilling out onto the streets, where pigeons and rats delight in rolling in it.

 

[meggiebeth]

It declined here when the government lifted restrictions and guidance for businesses to follow. Those restrictions needed to be complied with for businesses to reopen after the lockdowns here, but now that all restrictions have been lifted, many businesses don’t seem to be prioritising the COVID protocol. That said, neither do most members of the public - there’s generally a sense that things are getting back to normal here.