grab my shit! (another CoVid Chronicle)

here’s what i don’t get…

…we’re told that the virus can live on hard surfaces for several hours.

granted, we’re told lots of things that are later walked back, but this one they seem to be sticking to.

so, that’s where we get all this “touchless” shit. if i go to the grocery store i can’t hand them money. they won’t take it. they ask me to put it down, and then they grab it once my hand is retracted, in theory to minimize the risk that they take having their hand within six feet of mine.

here’s the problem with that theory:

because the virus can live on hard surfaces, like money, for several hours, unless you leave that money laying there for a few hours, or spray it down with some kind of disinfectant, i might as well have just handed it to you. i know it’s store policy (i asked) but it’s not affording you any real protection. in fact, it’s actually worse – if i hand you the money it goes from my wallet to my hand to your hand, so it’s been “touched” in the last few hours, in theory, by just two folks – me and you.

(of course this is negated if said money was change from the mexican food restaurant where i ate before going to the store or whatever, but never mind that now. in reality, i had just been at wal-mart, where they actually do take money out of your hand and then hand you change. the horror!)

but “for safety”, the grocery store has me set my money down…on a counter…that i haven’t seen her wipe with the last three people before me, so it probably hasn’t been done in hours if not days. and now my change is set on that contaminated surface for me to retrieve and put in my pocket to infect the rest of my stuff.

gee, thanks. this kind of ignorance, folks, is why numbers are still getting worse.

i then went and got a pizza. the guy grabbed my box, and i held out my hand. but rather than hand it to me (he touched it, i touched it) he sets it down on this table that’s out there specifically for them to do this. he didn’t wipe it down first. he didn’t wipe it down after. i doubt it’s been wiped down that day, if that week. and now we all have the cooties of everybody who’s been waiting and set their purse down there. or the kids that played with their hotwheels waiting for dinner to be ready. or whatever the fuck.

just hand me my gotdamn stuff. i touched it. you touched it. i’m okay with that. the mysterious middle man i’m now in contact with for “safety” is the real virus spreader here. logic needs to replace paranoia if we’re to survive as a species, people.