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So here's a serious question. What are the odds of you getting this virus by handling a DVD that was shipped in the mail from someone who is infected? I'm act

by nickjj 7y ago

So here's a serious question. What are the odds of you getting this virus by handling a DVD that was shipped in the mail from someone who is infected? I'm actually thinking about suspending my Netflix DVD subscription for a bit because if people are put on "self quarantines" then they might be inclined to watch movies which means they are potentially shipping contaminated DVDs around the country. Can this virus live for 1-3 days without a host? This seems like a really bad way for it to spread if it can survive without a host for a bit. There you are, sick, laying in bed at night, maybe rubbing your nose, coughing, touching various parts of your body, laying in a bed you've been in all week while you recover, and then you handle the DVD with your hands, seal it up and send it across the country which is then shipped to someone else.

justforyou 7y ago
Serious answer: If you're that concerned, disinfect the DVD.
Loughla 7y ago
From the WHO: >From previous analysis, we know coronaviruses do not survive long on objects, such as letters or packages.
- nickjj 7y ago
  Thanks. Although, their definition of "do not survive long" isn't crystal clear. The WHO article you've quoted came from here: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2... But that's specifically in reference to receiving letters from China which might take a decent amount of time to cross the globe without human contact. In the Netflix case, I'm sure the turn around time for a DVD to go from household A to household B is a lot less time than China to the US.
nickjj 7y ago
If anyone is reading this a few days after this post. Medical experts who are working with this specific virus wrote: > Many believe that in most circumstances, the virus can live for a couple of hours to a couple of days, depending on the surface and the environment around it. That is taken from one of the "verified" replies in https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fdf5fq/we_are_a_team_of_medical_experts_following/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fdf5fq/we_are_.... So a DVD being shipped "in a few days" (which is completely reasonable) falls in line with potentially still being infected if a glossy coated DVD sleeve or DVD is a material that can host this virus for days. I called Netflix about this and they said they do sanitize DVDs between shipments since they contain personally identifiable data like fingerprints but didn't mention how it was sanitized or guaranteed it would be sanitized. They also didn't mention the sleeve being sanitized that contains the DVD which is definitely re-used between shipments since it's always in questionable shape.

by nickjj 7y ago

justforyou 7y ago

Serious answer: If you're that concerned, disinfect the DVD.

Loughla 7y ago

From the WHO: >From previous analysis, we know coronaviruses do not survive long on objects, such as letters or packages.

nickjj 7y ago
Thanks. Although, their definition of "do not survive long" isn't crystal clear. The WHO article you've quoted came from here: https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/advice-for-public/myth-busters https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2... But that's specifically in reference to receiving letters from China which might take a decent amount of time to cross the globe without human contact. In the Netflix case, I'm sure the turn around time for a DVD to go from household A to household B is a lot less time than China to the US.

nickjj 7y ago

If anyone is reading this a few days after this post. Medical experts who are working with this specific virus wrote: > Many believe that in most circumstances, the virus can live for a couple of hours to a couple of days, depending on the surface and the environment around it. That is taken from one of the "verified" replies in https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fdf5fq/we_are_a_team_of_medical_experts_following/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Coronavirus/comments/fdf5fq/we_are_.... So a DVD being shipped "in a few days" (which is completely reasonable) falls in line with potentially still being infected if a glossy coated DVD sleeve or DVD is a material that can host this virus for days. I called Netflix about this and they said they do sanitize DVDs between shipments since they contain personally identifiable data like fingerprints but didn't mention how it was sanitized or guaranteed it would be sanitized. They also didn't mention the sleeve being sanitized that contains the DVD which is definitely re-used between shipments since it's always in questionable shape.