Daniel Salzler No. 1043 EnviroInsight.org April 3, 2020
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1. The Science Of Staying Safe During This Covid-19 Pandemic. COVID-19 is everywhere in the United States, but the alarm over the virus isn’t equally distributed yet. The San Francisco Bay Area is in its third week of shelter-in-place rules. California and New York are in their second (though New York prefers to call its rules “NYS On Pause.” As of Monday, 31 states had announced similar rules, and the situation keeps on changing.
Not much in this country’s approach to COVID-19 is consistent. Some schools are closed until April; some are closed until May; some are still open Interpretations of what “social distancing” might mean vary widely. For the past few weeks, every time I’ve visited the grocery store, there have been new precautions: Now only a small number of customers are allowed inside, people line up outside six feet apart, and every shopping cart is sprayed with sanitizer and wiped down before it’s passed to the next person. Other stores in the neighborhood do no such thing. The other day, biking down the street, I saw two pedestrians edge around each other on the sidewalk, careful to maintain the WHO-recommended six feet of distance, only to be sideswiped by a couple of sweaty joggers, who seemed unaware that there was even a pandemic going on.
This is a nervous state to be in, but in the absence of a coherent national policy (or even coherent social norms), what we do have is science, even if much of it is still a work in progress. Here’s what the scientists are telling us about mitigating these new risks we’re all facing.
Masks can’t protect you completely, but even the cheap kind will probably protect you (and the people around you) more than no mask at all.
The scientific consensus is, increasingly, contradicting the advice given by the US surgeon general, the CDC, and WHO, all of which advised that people should only wear masks in public if they feel mild cold or flu symptoms. “Seriously people,” wrote Jerome M. Adams, the surgeon general, on Twitter, on the last day of February. “STOP BUYING MASKS! They are NOT effective in preventing the general public from catching#Coronavirus, but if health-care providers can’t get them to care for sick patients, it puts them and our communities at risk!”
This was strange advice to give, considering the existing science, and may have backfired and caused people to hoard them, since Adams didn’t bother to distinguish between the kind of simple masks that people can make at home and the N95 masks that were already in desperately short supply. Even very-low-tech face masks provide more protection than no mask at all, as long as people are careful to avoid touching them and transferring the virus or bacteria to the mask itself. While there are many factors influencing these numbers, so far during the COVID-19 pandemic, countries in which mask-wearing in public spaces is widely practiced have shown lower infection rates.
The reason for this, which is too horrible to ever be unlearned once you have learned it, is that a surprising amount of being a living, breathing human involves inhaling other people’s spit fog. Under most circumstances, it’s kind of unavoidable. But you definitely want to do your best to avoid this during a pandemic.
As Roxanne Khamsi recently explained in Wired, when public health officials described COVID-19 as mostly being transmitted via surfaces and not being an “airborne” virus, they were using a very specific technical definition of the term. COVID-19 is carried by relatively large droplets of moisture, so—unlike some viruses—it can’t hover in the air and infect people 30 minutes after someone coughed it out into the world. But large droplets can still be carried by the air and into your face.
In the US, wearing a mask is often interpreted as “I am a sick person out in public, exposing everyone to my germs.” Especially in the early weeks of the epidemic’s arrival in the United States, some frontline workers at clinics and hospitals and grocery stores who come into contact with large numbers of people were told not to wear masks to work, on the grounds that it makes customers or patients uncomfortable.
In countries that have adopted mask-wearing in the last few decades as a public health practice, wearing one is more of a friendly gesture—a way of signaling that you are a thoughtful person who is looking out for the health of the people around you. Since COVID-19 can be spread by people who don’t feel sick yet (or never show symptoms), wearing a face mask and feeling no shame to do so would reduce the spread of the virus, the same way that proper handwashing does.
Handwashing with soap and water is better than using hand sanitizer. When the COVID-19 virus leaves someone’s body in search of new hosts, it’s wrapped in a protective blob of mucus, like a tiny spacesuit. Washing your hands properly with soap and water makes short work of the mucus—without it, the virus is fragile and easily destroyed. Achieving a similar effect with hand sanitizer takes more like four minutes. Sanitizer is good for situations when you don’t have any other options, but if you have access to soap and water, use it.
Act like you’re already infected and you don’t want to pass the virus on to anyone else. Act like you’re not infected and everyone is trying to pass the virus on to you.
We now know that COVID-19 can be transmitted several days before people actually begin to show symptoms (and for quite a while longer if they are asymptomatic). We also know that if we could just freeze everyone around the world in place for 14 days while sitting six feet apart, the whole epidemic would stop—with no nearby human hosts to make more of itself, the virus would die out on every surface.
We can’t practically do that—there are sick people who need to be taken care of, crops that need to be tended to, food and other necessities that need to be distributed. But the closer we can get to the freeze tag ideal of pandemic management in the next critical weeks, the smaller and more manageable it becomes. Now is not the time to go camping with your other quarantined friends or otherwise get creative with the definition of what quarantine means. You are a big, beautiful ecosystem that quite likely has been colonized by an invasive species at this point—and you should treat yourself with the same level of ecological caution.
Take care of yourself and others.
Being perfectly healthy is not going to protect you completely from COVID-19, but since the current evidence shows that people with pre-existing health issues struggle more to fend off the virus, there’s no harm, and plenty of potential benefit, in keeping yourself as healthy as possible during the quarantine. Don’t drink (or drink very rarely), don’t smoke, don’t vape, eat your vegetables (clean them well and cook them first unless you absolutely trust their source) and whole grains, and especially make sure that you get enough sleep, since sleep plays a significant role in how well your body can fend off infectious diseases.
Another thing that science tells us: It’s not easy to change your habits. But COVID-19 is changing our habits whether we like it or not. Over the next few weeks, very few of us will be living life as we are accustomed to living it—in that space of disruption, there’s room for new habits to form. Source: Sierra Club.
2. During These Tough Times, You May Want To Consider This Step-by-Step Guide to Washing Your Clothes by Hand. How to hand-wash your laundry (and kill germs) at home. It’s time to learn new things.
Knowing how to effectively hand-wash clothes and linen is particularly useful right now for those of us who don’t have laundry machines and may be avoiding public spaces like laundromats. But you don’t have to be in the middle of a pandemic for this life skill to come in handy: Washing by hand can curb the environmental impact of your laundry routine by cutting back on energy-intensive machines. It can also help your clothes last longer, preventing fading, shrinking, and tearing caused by the washer and dryer. It’s a double win for sustainability and can be easy and convenient too with a little know-how.
1. Decide what should (and shouldn’t be) hand-washed.
The biggest challenge for those new to handwashing is knowing what can and can’t be hand-washed at home. Check the care label first. Machine-washable clothes are all hand-washable, from your filthiest socks and workout gear to dish towels and bedsheets. But what about those “dry-clean only” labels? Often, they can be ignored. Manufacturers are required to list only one cleaning option (machine, hand-wash, or dry-clean only) on the care label, and many choose dry-clean only for delicate items so they don’t get in trouble if customers ruin a garment by home-washing.
Dry-clean-only garments that are lightweight and simply constructed, that are one color and made of one material, and that lack a lining are good candidates for handwashing. Most cashmere or wool sweaters can and should be hand-washed. Cotton, silk, and synthetic tops and pants, and even some viscose rayon garments can be hand-washed as well as bras, tights, and lingerie.
As for what not to dunk in your kitchen sink, let commonsense guide you. Leather and suede and anything heavily embellished or with sewn-in linings (like evening wear, winter coats, suits, or other tailored garments) are all best left to pros. Very bright or saturated colors also shouldn’t be hand-washed, unless you’re willing to accept fading. Bright silk garments, especially, tend to lose color very easily. If you’re still not sure if a garment is hand-washable, dab an inconspicuous spot like an inside seam or the inside of the cuff with a wet cloth or Q-tip. If the fabric loses a significant amount of color or shrinks or warps, then opt for dry-cleaning.
2. Gather your supplies.
For starters, you’ll need a basin. The bathroom sink or a plastic tub is ideal (a bucket works too). For larger loads, full-length pieces, or towels and linens, the bathtub or a large kitchen sink are best. Ensure that the basin is spotlessly clean, as any residue will easily transfer to light-colored clothing. If using a kitchen sink, make sure to wash out detergent after usage, as it isn’t fit for consumption
You’ll also need somewhere to dry: It could be a clothesline (there are indoor and outdoor options), or a collapsible drying rack, or you can improvise with a towel rack or shower bar or even the railing of a deck or balcony. Sheets can be draped across two chairs in a pinch.
Though you don’t need a special handwashing detergent, it’s important to use a mild one, free of fragrance and bleaches. Eco-friendly options like Seventh Generation, Dr. Bronner’s, and Ecover work well, as do clear dishwashing soaps and baby shampoo. Mild, eco-friendly detergents are better for the environment and gentle on your clothes. But they’re also much better for you and your skin as you hand-wash. If you take to handwashing, consider investing in a washboard and a scrub brush, but they’re not necessary if you’re just getting started.
3. Sort by color, type, and dirtiness.
Divide your everyday clothes into lights and darks and by level of soiling. For example, you might wash socks, gym clothes, and underwear together and then towels together, as these categories require more soap and agitation. Outer layers like T-shirts and jeans can be washed together as well. Wash delicates individually or a few at a time, and all the same color, to protect the fibers.
Keep in mind that you’ll need to find a spot to hang dry all your items. If you have limited space, wash small loads, and if washing sheets, wash one set at a time.
Check clothes for yellowing and stains. Apply detergent directly to any spots, rub in with your fingers, and let sit for 15 minutes. If your whites are yellow or you have a ring around the collar, use natural and nontoxic household ingredients to lighten them, like hydrogen peroxide, which can be applied directly to yellow areas, or lemon juice, baking soda, or distilled white vinegar mixed into your soaking water. Sunlight also brightens whites.
4. Ready, set, wash.
Fill your basin with cool water and a small amount of detergent (a few drops is appropriate for one garment; follow the measurements on your detergent bottle for heavily soiled loads or larger items like towels and sheets). Keep in mind that water is a solvent and will do much of the lifting of cleaning your clothes—too much soap will be hard to remove and can leave a crunchy residue. Swirl the soap and water around until fully mixed.
Drop your garment(s) or linens into the water until submerged. For heavily soiled clothes or linens, let them soak for at least a half hour to an hour. Leave socks and underwear or linens overnight if need be.
Now, with your hands, gently swish your clothes around. For soiled garments like socks or dish towels, you’ll need to do a bit of scrubbing. If you don’t have a washboard or scrub brush, rub the garment or linen against itself. Or, put your hand inside a clean sock and use that as a scrubber. If you notice the water turning grayish or even yellowish, this is normal and a sign of your laundry getting clean!
Pour out the soapy water and run cool, clean water over your clothes until the water runs clear and there are no suds. It might take several passes of clean water.
Next, press down on your laundry, pushing it against the side of the basin, and pushing the water out. Don’t wring the garments or pull them up and out of the basin while sopping wet, as this will cause them to warp and lose their shape. Keep pushing until most of the extra water is removed. The more water you can push out of your clothes, the faster they’ll dry and the less likely they are to mildew.
5. Air drying is easy.
Now it’s time to air dry. Textiles dry at different rates. Synthetics like polyester or your nylon yoga pants dry very fast. Wool dries relatively quickly too. Cotton garments, and especially cotton towels and sheets, are likely to take the longest, so keep this in mind as you find areas to dry your items.
First, you’ll need to remove all extra moisture from heavy and dense garments, like chunky wool sweaters, by laying them flat on a towel. Reshape them, roll them up in the towel, and push the moisture out. Viscose/rayon also tends to warp when hung to dry. These items should be dried flat, so transfer to a dry towel and place near a window, fan, AC vent, or heater. It’s important to reshape clothes if you hang dry as well. If using clothespins, place them in an inconspicuous spot so they don’t pucker your fabrics. If using a drying rack, fold your items at the middle across the bars. Another option is to hang garments from hangers on your shower rod or off your drying racks, leaving space for air to circulate. Sheets and towels can be pinned to hangers and hung from the shower rod, draped across a deck railing or two chairs, or over your drying rack.
To speed up drying indoors, place your laundry near a fan, window, or over an air conditioning vent or near a heater—just not too close to the heater to avoid damage. Another tip: Do the laundry before bed, and in most cases it will be dry by morning. Items that are wrinkled can be touched up with an iron or steamer, but many wrinkles will fall out on their own.
Handwashing might sound daunting at first, but it becomes second nature with a little practice. One of the most unexpected joys of handwashing is it can save you time. Washing small loads of clothes and dishtowels in the sink throughout the week can help you to avoid time-intensive laundry days. Happy handwashing!
A Note About Germs
Most bacteria on clothing are harmless. However, if you or someone in your household has a contagious illness or has come into contact with a contaminated surface or person, ER doctors advise washing clothes and linens in very hot water and tumble drying on high heat for 45 minutes. Your detergent will also help remove bacteria and viruses. A more eco-friendly option is hanging laundry to dry in the sunlight, which is effective at killing bacteria and germs as well.
But if handwashing is your best option, wash your clothes in detergent and use the hottest tap water possible, or use boiling water. Just be careful when handling scalding water and keep in mind that hot water fades bright colors and can shrink wool and some cotton. Make sure to either use disposable gloves or wash your hands and sanitize your basin after handling this laundry. Source: Sierra Club
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