Corona measures | Blind spot of community infection for convenience store

Handling convenience store products

Attempts at Convenience Stores to Prevent Infectious Diseases

Since the dangers of the new coronavirus have become known, convenience stores have also taken strict infection control measures.

Disinfectants and masks are urged to be worn at the entrance and exit, and a transparent partition sheet is hung between the clerk and the customer at the cash register.

In addition, many of the cash registers have been changed to those where customers put money in and operate them, so that it is possible to avoid contact with store clerks.

Hand touches the cutout sheet. 

Recently, it has been proposed that the risk of contact infection with the coronavirus is low, and it seems that measures have changed to focus on airborne infection, but infection by contact infection has also been proven.

Corona's 'contact infection' risk is not so high: Nikkei Business Electronic Edition (nikkei.com)

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Also, it cannot be said to be hygienic because an unspecified number of people touch it.

I think they can make it as high as they can't touch it.

If I say that, the touch panel of the cash register will be touched by an unspecified number of people, so it can't be said to be safe, but if you worry too much, what about the products on display, how about the small changes? There is endless.

However, what caught my attention this time was a problem that is more directly related to our health literacy.

Which part do you pinch plastic bottles?

When holding a plastic bottle, both the customer and the store clerk hold or pinch the cap.

The thinnest part of a plastic bottle is the cap.

Therefore, it is easiest to pinch the cap part.

When the customer brings the product from the refrigerator to the cash register, when the store clerk scans the barcode of the product at the cash register, and when putting it in the plastic bag, in most cases, the top of the plastic bottle is pinched by the cap.

What bothers me about pinching the cap is that it hits your mouth when you open the cap and drink.

To be more specific, the tip of the lower lip may hit slightly.

I am concerned that this may increase the risk of infection.

I think there are various opinions about whether the danger of corona is high or low, but apart from that, I think there are holes that cannot be covered by the current infection control measures.

If you ever handle a plastic bottle, you can avoid the part that hits your mouth by holding the bottle in the middle, and this is not particularly difficult.

If large-scale things such as changing the structure of the plastic bottle are allowed, the cap should be deep so that the part that touches the mouth is completely hidden by the cap, and the half of the cap should be screwed.

I think that it is a subject that should be considered as a countermeasure against influenza viruses and noroviruses, which are said to have a higher probability of contact infection than coronaviruses.