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When it comes to grocery shopping during quarantine, there are a lot of safety precautions you should be taking, including staying six feet away from other shoppers and wearing a mask. However, there are other, less obvious steps you should also be taking to keep yourself safe and healthy.
With that in mind, keep reading for the scary mistake you’re probably making at the grocery store!
Using Your Phone
Using your phone at the grocery store might seem harmless, but it can be a problem if you are not careful.
Speaking to NPR, Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health , warns against using your phone at the store. She explains that your "phone is a great way to get your hands right up next to your face."
Even if you are wearing gloves, you should keep your phone out of your hands.
Rasmussen continues, "I've seen a lot of people wearing gloves out in public, and they just kind of wear them all day and do a lot of normal activities, like talk on their phone, potentially eat, potentially handle food that they're going to eat later with those gloves on, and that's not great practice."
Keeping your phone out of your hands at the grocery store is a good idea.
However, if you are using Apple Pay or a similar form of contactless payment, that might be more difficult. Many grocery stores are no longer accepting cash since you cannot disinfect it like you can credit and debit cards. With this restriction, contactless payment is a popular choice (and most of it requires using your phone).
So if you do catch yourself using your phone (with gloves or without), getting in the habit of disinfecting it when you get home from the store is a smart idea.
