*Safest* PPE & safety protocol for transit and caregiving?

January 26, 2021 10:43 AM

How can I ensure maximum safety while travelling on transit, shopping at grocery stores and pharmacies, and visiting a vulnerable family member for 6 hours at a time? Step by step if possible.

SO FAR, I’ve been very lucky in having avoided Covid. I wear a disposable surgical mask (sometimes two), and am diligent about disinfecting or washing my hands whenever I tough ANYTHING. I disinfect groceries that come in a can, bottle, or box. I’m getting a face shield soon (I do wear glasses and maybe that’s helped, too). When I’m visiting my vulnerable dad, I try to keep the window open as much as poss, weather permitting.

I do spend hours with him at a time, this is because otherwise, loneliness and FTD-related restlessness would have him out and about (which still happens sometimes, thankfully he’s mask-compliant and wears one when I ask him to, even when I ask him over the phone. He wears one every minute I’m there.)

Changing clothes on arriving, I haven’t done but could.

I consider myself extremely fortunate, as I’ve had to go to hospitals and labs a few times. Just tested negative on a PCR test and wow I want to keep my streak of luck going). As mentioned, I do also take transit (with high-risk peeps). Sometimes I Uber over (with the window open when not on the highway), but that’s $50 a pop so I try to keep that to a minimum.

posted by cotton dress sock to Science & Nature (13 answers total)

Get better masks. A well-fitting N95, KN95, FFP2 or similar. They are not nearly as hard to find as they were last year.
posted by mskyle at 11:05 AM on January 26, 2021 [17 favorites]

You might also consider how you schedule all these events - if it's possible for you go to the grocery store/pharmacy/etc. on your way to your dad's, even if you personally get infected you're extremely unlikely to become infecTIOUS that day. If you can quarantine (or as close to as possible) except on the days when you visit your dad, then if you do all the things on Sunday and develop symptoms or test positive on Thursday/Friday/Saturday, you know you can't visit your dad (or go shopping, etc.) for the next two Sundays.

That wouldn't really change the risk to you personally, but it would lower the risk of you infecting other people a little bit. (No idea whether that's remotely feasible in your specific case!)
posted by mskyle at 11:49 AM on January 26, 2021 [5 favorites]

I spend the day with my care receiver and go home to my partner at night; I do the incidental shopping for both households and this is what my current steps are:
1) shift the hours that I'm shopping as much as possible. I'll either go very early (7am or so) or immediately after I sign out of work. That keeps a lower number of people in the store/pharmacy/whatever. I don't go inside smaller stores (like a convenience store) if there's anyone else inside; I wait in my car or outside until I'm the only customer. I don't get takeout food unless it's curbside, I have found inside of restaurants/coffee shops to end up too crowded for my comfort with people who are waiting for their food.

2) I was previously using cloth masks with a filter, or surgical masks. Since the latest surge in my area and the advent of the new variants I have switched to a cloth mask over the top of a KN95 mask. I stretch these for a week or so, but since I don't take public transport, I only wear them 10-20 minutes max a day, and some days don't have to wear one at all since I just go from house to car to house. I ordered my KN95s from one of the stores in this AskMe. I have some face shields that hook onto my glasses but they are pretty awkward and I don't think they are likely to be that effective given the openings on the sides. I feel OK for now with just the 2 mask protocol.

3) I don't do any other socializing besides my partner and my care recipient. No visits with other households, no outdoor dining, no outdoor group exercise. I just stick to my two houses and the store. That's been since probably September, when things started to really get hinky here and might change if incidence rate drops a bit.

I don't wipe down groceries anymore and I don't wear gloves in the grocery store or change my clothes when I get home from the store. I do wear gloves when pumping gas and I think post-pandemic I'm going to keep doing that! But not an issue for you as you probably don't need to go to gas stations.
posted by assenav at 12:03 PM on January 26, 2021 [4 favorites]

I wear a KN95 with a cloth mask on top when I'm on transit. I shop at the nearest grocery store that I can walk to and is quiet & spacious enough for some- though not perfect- social distancing.

I will change my pants in their mudroom and leave my jacket on the porch when I take transit to see family indoors. I also put on a brand new KN95 mask and squeeze hand sanitizer on my hands before I go inside, and then wash my hands in their bathroom.
posted by BungaDunga at 12:09 PM on January 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

A NIOSH-approved N95 face mask would be probably safer than a surgical mask. I ordered some from Protectly following a recommendation here on AskMe. However, it fogged my glasses even after I adjusted the nose bar, which meant that air was escaping around the mask, so I got some foam liners to place under the nose bridge of the mask, which work and are comfortable.

This is kind of expensive, but a HEPA air purifier that filters the air in your father's room enough times per hour on days that he receives a visitor indoors would help to reduce his risk, along the same lines as better ventilation on a porch. I was very happy to find that my dentist uses these now.
posted by chromium at 12:19 PM on January 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Can you go for a meander with your dad instead of meeting him inside?
posted by aniola at 12:24 PM on January 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: @aniola, in addition to, always; instead of, not really, because I have to put the medications in a particular hiding spot for PSWs, put groceries where they need to go, talk him into showering, do laundry and some cleaning, etc. (We get some daily help but there are still things to do.)

Thanks everyone, so grateful to see areas where I can improve.

(Any Canadian sources for masks?)
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:38 PM on January 26, 2021

I'm, uh, not quite sure about the advice to not wear gloves. I'm not a medical professional or anything, but when I leave my house I wear cloth gloves in public at all times except when I'm in my car (I never have passengers) and I wash the gloves regularly.

I've seen other people do the same thing, but spray the outside of the gloves with disinfectant (while still wearing them) before getting in their cars; I don't do that, myself, but maybe that or frequent changes of disposable gloves would fit into the OP's “safest PPE and safety protocol”.

I actually take few other precautionary measures besides being meticulous about the mask and gloves in public, and haven't contracted COVID. (I should say, I'm under 65 but medically in two or three high-risk categories, so that's what my protocols are calibrated to.) I don't hose down groceries or mail deliveries with disinfectant or anything. But, I rarely leave my house and all of the people I have regular contact with also have sophisticated and informed personal protocols. (Some of them do hose down groceries and mail deliveries, outside their houses in the freezing New England winter where you definitely can't travel in an Uber with the window open ;*), before bringing anything inside, or so they claim.)
posted by XMLicious at 12:39 PM on January 26, 2021

Re: wearing gloves.
Wearing gloves doesn't protect you when you touch things and then touch your face, phone, or clothes. Which we do all the time sometimes unknowingly. It only makes sense when you change the gloves every single time you have touched a contaminated surface before you touch something that you don't want the germs on. It makes much more sense to use hand sanitizer frequently.
Otherwise you are just spreading the germs everywhere with your filthy gloves.
posted by M. at 1:08 PM on January 26, 2021 [11 favorites]

You could get him to wear one of these while you're over. And wear one yourself while out and about.

Also, why close the Uber window on the highway? That's like only wearing half a mask. Keep a window on each side cracked a little if it's too cold to open fully. Sharing air in a confined space is basically the riskiest thing you can do right now.
posted by Jobst at 2:19 PM on January 26, 2021 [1 favorite]

In a car I believe the rec is to sit in the rear passenger seat, open the front passenger window and the rear driver side window, creating a diagonal airflow barrier between passenger and driver.
posted by mahorn at 8:36 PM on January 26, 2021 [3 favorites]

Here is a link to a recent study showing airflow in cars. It shows the passenger sitting diagonally from the driver and various combinations of open/closed windows. Bundle up and increase airflow to reduce your risk.
posted by oxisos at 10:12 PM on January 26, 2021 [2 favorites]

Not a Canadian, but here are a couple Canadian KN95 sources:
Canadian Red Cross
Everbright Global
Goltum

I also set up a Slickdeals reminder for them.
posted by assenav at 9:23 AM on January 27, 2021 [2 favorites]