Some of you know I’m a huge fan of food and dining out. It’s one of the things that really brings me happiness. That’s not currently possible— but convenient food delivery to my door by uber eats / door dash / etc is. I have mixed thoughts about this and I’d like to hear yours… my thoughts (in no particular order):
I feel an obligation to my community to support local business in hard times
Food service workers might tend to be less financially secure and therefore feel the need to go to work even if they’re feeling sick
Many of my favorites are taco-truck type places where I’m not sure they even have running water and are capable of keeping up on hygiene as well as might be hoped for currently…
Having food delivered adds several more layers of potential contamination… the cook, the helper, where it’s cooked, the delivery driver, everyone whose been in the drivers car recently…
Getting restaurant food delivered to house is fun and exciting and breaks up the terrible monotony of staying in ones house all day.
Welcome to my entire life with severe food allergies. It’s interesting to me that the entire world is getting a tiny glimpse into what daily life is like for some of us. I don’t eat food that I didn’t prepare myself due to what you’ve listed and more.
I did read somewhere that using Uber Eats or Door Dash doesn’t support the restaurant as well as ordering directly from that restaurant. So if the restaurant delivers directly, more of your money would be going to them, and there would also be fewer people involved in the whole process. I’m not sure where you’re living, but here I think people are allowed to pick up meals through drive through as well as delivery.
I think you need to do whatever you feel is the safest for you and your family right now.
I was wondering about the idea of heating up any food that you had delivered before eating it. I personally think this is a good idea. Although there is not a whole lot of info on this, a few things I have read are…
Can the virus be killed with heat? If you put delivery food in the microwave, will that make it safe?
“I have good news,” Dionne-Odom said, “which is that we have no documented cases of coronavirus being transmitted in food. It’s not like typhoid or something else or a cholera. That said, though, you touch (the container it came in.) As soon as you get the food, come into your house to put it into a separate container that’s clean. Then throw away the container that it came in and wash your hands very carefully.”
Want to take it one step further? Yes, heating the food up will kill the virus. But Dr. Francisco Diez-Gonzalez suggests skipping the microwave, which doesn’t heat the food uniformly. Turn to your stove instead and reheat the food to to a temperature of at least 165 degrees F, he said.
So the basic steps are to have a different dish or container ready (so you don’t have to touch cabinets after taking the food from the driver), take it out of whatever container it was delivered in and put it into a different container from your house, and then heat it up. And wash your hands after the transaction and all of that stuff too.
My personal feeling is that the microwave is okay as long as you sufficiently heat it all uniformly and do not leave little cool pockets in the food. But I guess it depends on how long you heat it up. It is not the microwaves that kill the virus, it is the heat.
The strategy of having a clean container ready, opening the picked up or delivered container without touching the food, dumping the food in the clean container, getting rid of the potentially contaminated container, and then washing hands thoroughly is how I’ve been handling groceries.
I would think for cooked food, you could also microwave for a bit and anything on the surface would likely be killed. With the packages, all you have to do is move it over into a microwaveable dish and wash your hands after discarding the packaging I’d think?
outside of our building there is a drop off table for ANY delivery. deliveries and not being permitted inside of our building. however, they are carried inside by a doorman. the doorman, fortunately (for him as well as for us and everyone else) wears gloves. (there is also a large Purell dispenser right by the mail station area where we would be picking up any packages, including deliveries.)
it is then up to us to transport the package upstairs to inside of our homes. I no longer take the elevator I would rather get my exercise by climbing up the very wide and steep stairway (more for social distancing reasons than for exercise )
I am not certain about heating food, but I am certain that its safe to assume that potentially hundreds of persons (infected or otherwise) have handled these types of parcels, packages and deliveries. I have a lg container of Lysol outside of my front door. inside of my front door, I have Clorox wipes and surgical gloves. I do not handle anything without a complete rubdown followed by some serious hand washing.
as much as I would enjoy a taco from time to time; as much as I would like a food delivery (which we no longer have the option of as Brooklyn is now in complete lockdown), I just wouldn’t risk my precious life for the sake of a potential death sentence. besides, I’m far too good of a chef to waste my appetite on a burrito.
Sam most states including Calif and Washington require taco trucks to have potable water and 3 compartment sinks for washing, sanitizing, etc. Their city specific health department would require this to meet state health department rules.
I personally cut 1 link out of the Uber Eats chain and order from the restaurant/taco truck to go and pick up myself. One less possible contagion contact that way.
So, i was pretty worried about food transmission but data suggests that this virus won’t survive very long on packaging, is destroyed by stomach acid, and can’t grow in food, unlike bacteria. So the risk of transmission from foods is apparently low. In addition, because restaurants are already subject to health department rules meant to contain the spread of typical gastro viruses like norovirus, which are typically much hardier on food and surfaces, the same everyday prevention techniques they use to prevent disease transmission should also reduce it for COVID-19.
To me, if you’re concerned about the outer packaging, I’d just bring it up, discard the packaging and immediately wash my hands. I wouldn’t eat a fresh salad from a restaurant, though the risk is low, but I wouldn’t think twice about foods that are cooked. Those can always be reheated, which will eliminate any risk from them, assuming you discard packaging and wash your hands.
Or gets absorbed through your mucus membranes directly into your bloodstream. That’s the danger of touching your face/mouth/nose/eyes with contaminated hands.
Pretty sure it doesn’t go into the blood stream and it only affects mucous membranes in the mouth/nose, because it goes via them to the respiratory system. But I have yet to hear of any solid evidence that it can be transmitted through any other mucous membrane (or even eyes), and similar viruses have been shown not to be sexually transmittable, for example, so it seems unlikely.
There is, however, some evidence COVID-19 can be found in feces (and diarrhea is one of the common symptoms), so washing hands may be all the more important in that respect as well, although it sounds like again, evidence doesn’t seem to fit it being largely spread as food-borne.
It’s interesting to me that the entire world is getting a tiny glimpse into what daily life is like for some of us. I don’t eat food that I didn’t prepare myself due to what you’ve listed and more.
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