Protocol Z

Below is protocols I've been running since covid started. It protocol I created for handling pandemic response and I nicknamed it protocol z for zombie apocolypse protocol. Anyways, I thought I'd share it since I'm seeing people who are trying to be safe but quite honestly still making many mistakes and getting sick anyways. They treat the minimim guidelines as enough and they are not. That's why they are the MINIMUM guidelines.

Outdoor Protocols:

  1. Wear face mask at all times. N95 if you can, which is better than other masks that most are using. most masks are designed to protect others from yourself but actually offer minimal protection against anti-mask pricks. IE they keep your sneeze or cough in but airborne virus particles are NOT filtered by mask. KN95 ok alternatives but have to be more careful of fakes. If you cannot get the high quality masks and only have the basic protection masks, be extra vigilant not to linger anywhere and keeping distance from people.
  2. Wear goggles or shop glasses. Even face shields are not adequate for protecting floating droplets that can stay airborne up to 3 hours. This is actually the number one reason why all those "but I wore a mask i social distanced I still did everything and still got covid" stories exist. They did NOT do everything. Imagine someone positive for covid walks into store no mask, has a smoke out front and coughs a bunch of times at door. For the next literal 2-3 hours people are walking through his virus to enter store. Mask may be on but the virus droplets you can't see feel or smell still enter your eyes which is soft wet tissue that can absorb it. Protect eyes. Even just wearing glasses is a lot better than nothing at all. not as effective as closed creese goggles but something.
  3. Open pull doors from bottom. You can stand in front of a store and watch people open door and like 90% of people grab handle from top or directly in middle/side. Be different. Avoid a lot of germs opening door from bottom on pull doors. Push doors, don't even touch them with hands at all, push them open from bottom using foot.
  4. Keep sanitizing wipes with you if you can. Or at least in car. Then grab one out of pack when going into grocery store to wipe down the cart as soon as you grab it, making no direct contact with cart at all until you've finished wiping it. There have been hands all over that cart all day long. While you may be touching stuff you put in cart, it's unlikely 100 different people touched everything in store you grabbed off shelf. that cart however is a disgusting germ factory.
  5. Keep hand sanitizer in a your bag/purse or in your vehicle. Any time you leave any place you go to, sterilize hands immediately.
  6. Do not touch anything you don't have to. Don't lean against counters or rest arms on them. If you have to wait for something, don't sit down in that attractive chair that hasn't been wiped down all day. Standing is good for you, especially with all of us sitting on our asses at home lately.
  7. DO NOT EAT OR DRINK OUT unless you bring it home first to sanitize. Social distancing doesn't change the fact that you do not know people handled your food and containers. Do you really trust that person at mcdonalds wearing their mask like a headband or around their neck who's texting on their cell phone in between making your fries and burger to keep your food virus free? This doesn't mean don't get food and bring it home. Science has shown that if you bring food home, transfer it to microwave plate and dispose of container, then microwave it for at least 20 seconds, the microwave will kill virus that may be lingering on food. Basically, you sterilize by nuking in microwave.

Home Protocols:

  1. Any time you bring something in house like groceries, wipe it down with disinfectant spray OR store it for 3 days before use so any virus that may have been transferred to it's surface has died. Don't assume just because it goes in fridge or freezer that cold will sterilize it. In fact, some science reports have suggested freezing something can actually preserve virus so it's still there when you take item out much later. My protocols have basically been "is it perishable and am I eating it in next 3 days? no? it can stay in car or garage for 3 days. does it need to go into freezer or fridge right away. Wipe it down with a cloth heavily saturated in germ killing disinfectant spray. Is it in a container or bag i can get rid of, transfer it to something else such as opening a bag of cookies, dumping them into a ziplock bag then throwing away the container they came in. Do this carefully as to not actually touch cookies with hands you haven't sterilized yet since hands are still handling containers you should ALWAYS consider contaminated. Fruits and veggies can be washed, which you'll do last, followed by washing your own hands for at least 20 seconds with soapy water after everything you brought in has bee decontaminated first.
  2. After your brought in items and yourself are decontaminated, before you do anything else grab that disinfectant spray again and a fresh cloth, saturate it down again and wipe down every door knob handle and counter you touched or items you brought in touched. Do not forget fridge and microwave if you put groceries away or put food in microwave to sterilize.
  3. When you go to mailbox, open mailbox and grab mail with one hand and keep other hand from touching mail (will explain that in second). Any junk mail doesn't need to come in house at all, toss it in garbage on way in. When going inside, open doors with the hand that has NOT touched mail, it's your clean hand. Any mail you need to go through bring in to your decontamination area. now you are free to use both hands to open and go through, including shipped items from amazon or whatever. if you can help it when opening items, sterilize them where appropriate or let them sit for a few days in a safe are no one will be touching for 3 days to naturally do so. In fact, on that note, if you get a shipment from amazon or somewhere that doesn't need to be opened right away, you can just let it sit for 3 days (but at least make sure it's not on porch so someone can yoink it). if you did touch doors or counters with hands after touching mail or items you brought in, it's time to sterilize doorknobs and counters.
  4. If you have guests come in your house, make them wear a mask or don't let them in. Pretty much any contractor or worker is going to have a mask. Friends should respect your house rules or they are shitty friends. Them wearing a mask keeps any droplets from them coughing sneezing or talking (yes talking) inside their mask. that's something people don't even think about. Just think about all those S and P words that are literally putting droplets into air. 6 feet be damned. That's a minimum guideline not a magic forcefield. Plus again, droplets can stay airborn a long time. The only person mask-less in your house ever should be the people inside it that are covid free and followed all protocols to a T.

Equipment Protocols:

  1. Having multiple masks and goggles makes this much much easier. I actually keep 4 of each on a table by door. When I go out I grab mask and eye protection for that session. When I return they go back to where I got them from. The next time I go out I grab the NEXT mask and goggles not one I used perviously. Assume ones you used previously are now contaminated for 3 days. Now you understand why there are 4 (but wait you said 3 days). Sometimes you gotta go out twice in same day ;). If this happens still grab new one. Once you've reached the end go back to beginning (if it's been at least 3 days) and start again. Make sure items on table obviously aren't touching each other. If you do not have 3 sets of goggles, then wipe them down after each use with disinfectant cloth. 3 or more masks should be much more reasonable to have than 3+ masks AND 3+ goggles
  2. Obviously, do not share equipment. Each person of household should have their own.