Last night, D. and I went on our usual evening walk, but with a lot more thought and purpose.
We were going to the post office.
And not to overdramatize it, but we put a lot of thought in how to avoid touching surfaces while in the post office, who would do what, and what we would do after we got back.
We hadn’t been to get get the mail in 5 days, mostly to avoid exposing ourself to any people or surfaces that my contaminated.
And I should explain, our town does not do mail delivery AT ALL in town (just in the country) because we only have 500 residents. So, everyone has to go to the post office to get their mail out of their boxes.
My pharmacy had kindly offered to mail me my prescription on Monday instead of having to pick it up at the back of a busy Albertson’s grocery store, and I had to go to pick it up before I ran out of medication this morning (Friday).
So, we went. At a time of night when we knew no one would be there.
When we arrived, D. didn’t go in, because he’s older and at greater risk.
Instead, he held onto our dog’s leash, while I opened the two doors to get inside with my winter gloves on.
I opened up the box with my car key chain. put my prescription in one plastic bag and sealed it. Put my other mail in one plastic bag and sealed it. Then put them both in a cloth bag I normally use to pick up groceries with.
We walked a mile back home, and put the mail in the bag in our shed behind our house to quarantine it to allow the virus to disintegrate. This is based on what I’ve read on the most recent studies for how long Coronavirus stays on surfaces, and an abundance of caution on our part.
We took the pharmacy package out, and D. went and got a bottle of sanitizer, and then sprayed it in a bank of snow, and we put a shovel over it and left it out for the night.
He opened up the door for me, and then I went straight to the bathroom and put all of my snow gear outerwear in the washing machine to wash, including my gloves.
Then I washed my hands, my face, and swept and washed the floor where I walked across it to get to the bathroom.
This morning I rescued the package from the snow, opened it, sprayed the pill bottle with disinfectant, let it sit for 15 minutes, and then wiped it off, opened it up, and took my pill.
The risk of infection from surfaces is quite low, but we’re not taking any chances.