How to Disinfect Packages from COVID-19

Josh CentersContributor - March 23, 2020

If you’re one of the tens of millions of Americans under home quarantine, then you’ve probably turned to online retail for making purchases of everyth
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Additional info: https://whatkillsit.com/virus/what-kills-coronavirus/

 

I never thought of this.  Good info, thanks!

 

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I have an Ikea hyllis shelf unit with plastic cover that I put an ozone generator in. All mail and packages go into it. Packages that are too large are sprayed with a hospital grade disinfectant.

 

CDC reported the virus survived on surfaces in infected member’s cabins of the Diamond Princess cruise ship for up to 17 days and says more research is needed.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6912e3.htm

 

My understanding is that RNA was found, not necessarily active virus. In any case, stay away from cruise ships.

 

Heat has reported to kill the virus at 56C for 15 minutes. Another report stated that N95’s can be sterilized if cooked for 30min at 70C. Maybe useful when the alcohol runs out to have a digital laser thermometer to spot check the outside of a package after it’s cooked using an outdoor oven/heater/fire.

 

I believe we’re looking into the roasting angle. Stay tuned.

 

From all reports, the virus dies at 145 degrees and above, which means that, theoretically, you can heat up your toaster oven to 200 degrees and insert appropriate items for 3 minutes or so.  Not long enough to burn the item, but long enough to toast the little buggers.

Note that this is an assumption and needs to be checked out before relying on it.

 

Converting C to F:  Double the number and add 30.

Converting F to C:  Deduct 30 and divide in half.

 

That formula is very ballpark! It’s actually 9/5C+32=F, and (F-32)*5/9=C. Yes, much harder to remember, but the 56°C example above using your formula gives 142°F, when the actual answer is 132.8℉.

 

https://stanfordmedicine.app.box.com/v/covid19-PPE-1-1

n95 mask reuse ’70 degree C hot air in an oven (typical kitchen-type of oven will do) for 30min’.

 

I put an N95 mask into my toaster oven at 200°F/93°C. I learned that many parts of the mask are not cloth, but plastic. Those parts melted within a couple of minutes, leaving the mask unusable.

 

I read one person detached the straps before cooking. I’m guessing if it had a breather valve, typically plastic, guessing that has to be removed as well.

 

More info about the study: https://www.reddit.com/r/COVID19/comments/fprsyy/stability_of_sarscov2_in_different_environmental/

 

75C for 30 minutes for N95 Masks

https://stanfordmedicine.app.box.com/v/covid19-PPE-1-2

 

How about if I open it outside, throw all packing in the the trash, and wipe down the item with a disinfectant wipe, then wash my hands?

 

I was wondering the same thing myself: If a thorough washing of hands before and after opening the package would suffice?

 

Yeah, that can work. I’d wear gloves too.

 

I’m going to let them sit for at least 3 days after shipped, Amazon makes this difficult with their courier service, but a standard tracking number will tell me when it left the shippers warehouse. I’ll assume the carrier isn’t going to open the package.

If its something I need asap or if it’s perishable, have to wipe down every inch. The issue there is I don’t know if disturbing the package will throw the virus in the air. I have to be safe and assume it will, thus need mask and goggles and act very slow when moving anything non-sterile, including my person.

 

 

 

As far as the virus becoming airborne after disturbing, just think the same way while cleaning things. Our work has trained us to first spray a cleaning rag or paper towel when using aerosol cleaners instead of spraying directly on the surface, as this could make the virus airborne. More applicable for hard surfaces but possible for shipping materials. Just seems like a common sense precaution and thought I’d mention it.

 

I just received a rug that I ordered from Wayfair. It is sitting in my garage right now for at least 72 hours. It is in original packing of heavy duty plastic completely sealed tight at both ends. What are your suggestions for how and when I can open same and put it in my living room?
thanks! Liz

 

I’ll be honest, I have no idea how long the virus lives on rugs. There have been reports of SARS-COV-2 RNA being detected in cruise ship cabins up to 17 days after they’re unoccupied, but there’s debate around if that’s actually transmissible. My suspicion is that it can live in carpet longer than most surfaces (because carpet is gross). So I might suggest just leaving it in the garage for a whole month to be sure.

 

New method of cleaning N95’s

https://www.heraldsun.com/news/coronavirus/article241520921.html

 

Although your suggestion is a good idea there is one factor that you didn’t address.
UPS is becoming an unreliable shipper because I was supposed to receive a package from Amazon shipped through UPS and although USP showed my package as Delivered I never got the package that had N95 Face Masks.
I cannot contact Amazon or UPS to find out what happened to my package. Either the Driver for UPS is stealing packages from the addressee or leaving delivered packages left unattended for 3 days invites porch pirates to walk up to the door and walk away with our package(s).

And EBAY also uses UPS to ship packages from sellers and the packages are being monitored by PayPal. This doesn’t stop the Driver employeed by UPS from stealing our packages. I have asked, without success, to have my packages shipped through USPS. The difference between UPS and USPS is USPS is an agency of the Federal Government and UPS is NOT an agency of the Federal Government.

Think about That!

 

I don’t mean to plug another source but Tech Ingredients on YouTube put together a video on some disinfection methods. He mentions getting UV-c bulbs for existing fluorescent ballasts which from a quick search look really cheap, I can’t comment on their efficacy though. He also gets into building an ozone generator. https://youtu.be/2UdtKssU7po

 

Please note that I have updated this guide on 30 March 2020 to extend the quarantine time for packages from 72 hours to five days. The reason for this is that I just discovered a WebMD report that claims that coronavirus can survive on some surfaces for up to five days.

 

One thing I find missing here is that one the best and cheapest disinfectant for COVID-19 is actually plain old soap and water. I can’t remember at the moment where I found the articles but there are several out there on the internet by reputable virus scientists.  The thing about these coronaviruses is their protective shells are made of an oily substance which is highly vulnerable to plain old soap and water. Hense the main point of washing your hands during this COVID outbreak is the washing part. The rinsing part is somewhat redundant if you have washed properly with soap.  We use chemicals much of the time but we have become rather religious about wiping down many things around the house with soap and water. And often some of the packages we get as well. Not so special for cardboard but it works great on plastic that we feel we need to open without waiting. Vegetables from the grocer being one.

An item I am uncertain about is the claim by WebMD of five days quarantine.  We have been using that as our standard, but I have as yet been unable to find verification or the source of their claim. So far it seems to be a random number.

 

 

I considered discussing soap and water, but I’m unsure about the mechanics and effectiveness. Much of soap and water’s effectiveness is from the scrubbing action and I’m not sure how you’d go about scrubbing a cardboard box.

 

I copied the below from the Washington post. Check out the article.  They are not the only ones to say this. It is pretty much the consensus of the scientific community. Soap is as good as you can get;

 

Soap — bar soap, liquid soap, laundry detergent and such — is virus kryptonite, which is why the message “Wash your hands!” is everywhere. But Menachery said heat and ultraviolet light are two other ways to neutralize a coronavirus, and each of these methods works in a different way.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/health/coronavirus-sars-cov-2-structure/