Supermarket Report from Minnesota

[MineralMan]

I went to my local Cub supermarket at 9:15 this Saturday morning. No crowds, and plenty of parking close to the store. I was wearing a blue dust mask, a drywaller's type of mask, not a medical mask. I have a stack of those I bought at Harbor Freight a couple of years ago that have been waiting in my closet to be used. No gloves, though, since I sanitize my hands more than once. The store had plenty of disinfectant wipes for the shopping carts, so I didn't have to use the ones I brought.

Drywaller's masks are a PITA. They tend to creep up on your face, and get quite warm from your breath. I would not like to wear one all day long, for sure. Next time, I'll try one of the rectangular surgical-style fabric masks we have, with the ear elastic bands. That might be more comfortable. We have a box of those, purchased during a flu season while my wife's mother was still alive, to protect her during our visits with her. There are probably still 20 of those left.

Stocks in the store were almost at 100%, except for paper goods. There was toilet paper, one pack per customer, in opened boxes on pallets. I didn't need any, though.

About 50% of customers were wearing masks of one sort or another. About 20% had gloves on, too. People were being careful about distancing, and almost everyone I encountered was polite and cooperative. A lot of people were lined up at the self-check area, which has four terminals. Nobody was in line at the regular checkout aisles, so I went through one of those. Plexiglas shields are in place, and it's a self-bagging store, so no problems there. The checkers are using gloves and hand sanitizer between customers. I had my normal conversation with the checker, who I know from many, many trips to that store. She seemed pretty cheerful today, and asked how I was feeling, which was "fine." I sanitized my hands after putting my bags in the car, but before getting my keys and getting back into the car.

Since I'm still a smoker, to my embarrassment, I swung by the tobacco store, which was open and empty. I got what I needed in there, with my mask, on and then sanitized again before getting in the car.

Got home, unloaded the car, put everything away, and then thoroughly washed my hands. I'm good for another week without going out, now.

[OregonBlue]

1. Sounds like you are doing all you can. We are using

Much the same routine but I also keep a bowl of water with dish soap and bleach that I use to wipe everything down before we put it away. Things we don't need right away we are putting out on our deck in the sun for a couple of days.
We are not using our cloth bags but are using the store plastic bags and throwing them away before we do the final wipe down of counters and hand washing.
Shopping has become an ordeal. Amazing what I always took for granted. I think this will change me in many ways.

[MineralMan]

2. I don't really think shopping in an uncrowded store is all that risky.

People here are good about distance-keeping. It's sort of a Minnesota thing, anyhow. Mornings remain slow at local supermarkets, and I can definitely keep my hands away from my face while shopping. The mask is more to reassure others that I'm taking precautions than as real protection for me, anyhow.

Hand hygiene, I think, is probably the key factor. I consider my car a safe zone, since both of us are careful to sanitize hands before getting into it, and nobody else gets in the car.

It's sort of a matter of percentage of risk. It's impossible to avoid all risk, but it's fairly easy to eliminate most of the risks. We work at home, so that's no problem. I'm down to one shopping trip per week, which is far less than my usual routine. Our pharmacy is in the same supermarket where we shop, so we do both things there.

I do all of the supermarket shopping. My wife visits Target once a week, and that's her only outing. She is somewhat OC, so she's even more careful about sanitizing than I am.

I hope all that works.

[OregonBlue]

5. My son and 2 grandsons live with us. We did stock up

at Costco weeks ago so no super major shopping but still I'm finding myself ultra paranoid. I think that's the biggest change. I hate being paranoid all the time.

[DarthDem]

3. Thanks for this, MM

It's interesting to hear these stories, especially when no one is driving a deliberately alarmist agenda. Thanks. I'm glad you got stocked up.

[MineralMan]

4. My pleasure. These are difficult times.

Many people feel very insecure about going out to get the things they need, but really, careful planning and shopping when stores aren't busy minimizes the risk pretty well.

The store staff seems to have gotten the message pretty well. Everyone is gloved and they've put in those plexiglas screens at the checkouts.

It's easy enough to avoid getting into close proximity with other people if the store is uncrowded, and hand sanitizing is easy enough to do when needed.

The key is to go out an do things infrequently and to be careful when you do to avoid crowded settings.

[DarthDem]

6. +1,000

Calm, sensible advice!