Receiving Foreign Mail :yikes:

[Eoghan2009]

If I recieve foreign mail should I microwave it to disinfect? Alternatively I could put it in a sealed poly bag for a fortnight?

[Karmachanic]

Same subject…

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/351779-any-concerns-with-chinese-pen-orders-in-light-of-coronovirus/page-5?hl=corona&do=findComment&comment=4291132

[FLZapped]

Just wear gloves, I suppose.

[praxim]

See the existing thread, as Karmachanic says. Foreign mail is likely safer than local, it being much longer since it left the sender and local handling otherwise being the same.

 

One could always set fire to it, then use forensic techniques to read the ashes.

[tytyvyllus]

The foreign mail that I received actually was on its second trip over the pond! It was returned to the sender and then he sent it again.

 

To be honest as a courtesy I have started sealing my letters with a glue stick.

[sombrueil]

Paper and other absorbent materials seems to be virus-free within 24 hours. Plastic in 3 days. If it's a plastic envelope you can always wipe it with a disinfectant.

 

Remember that the above is in controlled lab conditions, and that they are looking for detectable, not infectious, amounts. There is some evidence that the density of the virus load encountered has a lot to do with how contagious it is.

 

I just put my mail on a shelf, wash my hands, and open it the next day. With pens this takes some self-control but it can be done.

By the way gloves do not protect you or anyone else unless you discard them after touching something potentially contaminated. Otherwise it is just like not wearing them.

[langere]

"One could always set fire to it, then use forensic techniques to read the ashes."

 

 

Erick