Corona - How To Trade Stamps These Days?

There are different assessments as to how long can the virus survive on paper. I guess that if I let the packages rest on my shelves a few days it should be ok.
Currently used stamps - might have been licked by the sender. Take it into consideration.
Last - many here are senior citizens. They (we) should take extra care about trade by mail.
Post last - I've never tried the Corona beer till the Coronavirus panic. Must say - I like it.

See from earlier today.
http://goscf.com/t/71873

For some reason I couldn't find that thread, so I assumed there wasn't any and opened a new one.

those are my concerns too.
thanks wkusau for the link it is exactly what I was looking for.

https://health.ucdavis.edu/coronavi...istakes.html

This article is 6 days old. I saw a brief segment on MSNBC regarding corona virus on surfaces abd believe this is the data they relied on.

https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/202...-weeks-study

Shermae - Interesting article. Not sure that it really means that the coronavirus is that infectious even though it can live on a surface:

However, the study was conducted in the dark to remove the effect of UV light, which can inactivate the virus. That means the lab conditions may not match the real world. The items were left undisturbed as well, but phone screens and banknotes are often moved around, which could wipe off the virus.
"What we're seeing empirically, clinically, with contact tracing, is that COVID is not spreading heavily through touch," Colin Furness, an infection control epidemiologist at the University of Toronto, told CTV News.

"It is possible to contract the virus through surfaces," he said. "But it's not happening very often."

In addition, the study tested how long the virus lasts on surfaces but not how long the virus particles are actually infectious. Influenza A, for instance, has been found to survive on surfaces for 17 days, but a virus begins to degrade once it leaves a host's body.

If you're worried about how long the virus can live on paper, the obvious solution is just to order/trade your stamps from abroad.

Post is so slow in the Covid era that any virus would have died long before it reaches your hands, even if the sender was infected and slobbered all over the stamps.

I must say that catching Covid off a stamp is not one my main concerns.

steevh

Does your postman wear gloves ??

I am with Steve regarding incoming mail, I simply open and discarded any external envelope or package wrapping, then sanitized my hands and any surfaces that it touched. I take the covers/stamps and put them in my own albums; I then sanitize my hands again. I do also wipe down the outside of any albums with a sanitizer. If the virus is indeed on a stamp or cover it is highly unlikely to live for more than a few weeks on paper in the album.

I walk into health care facilities an average of 200 times per year that are full of patients with COVID, HIV, hepatitis and a host of other communicable diseases while I myself have been totally immunocompromised for the last 6-7 years. Yet I have not contracted any diseases. And while I have had a weekly exposure to COVID I have tested negative for the virus every two weeks since May.

This experience has led me to believe that the level of fear exceeds the risk. Risk calculations have two parts; 'impact' and 'likelihood'. The virus 'impact' for those with existing health concerns (like myself) was significant but has been greatly mitigated over the last 6 months. And we now know that the 'likelihood' remains largely controlled by nature; viruses will be viruses and there is only so much that we can do as humans. (Last week a large study showed 85% of COVID positive patients had faithfully worn masks and practiced social distancing but still got the virus.) Apparently we can hide for a while but moving off grid and having no human contact is not feasible for most of us. And after being told years ago that I could die if I picked up any additional virus, I came to the conclusion that living my life in fear was best described 'simply existing'. I want to do more than 'simply exist', I wanted to live life. Additionally there is more risk than simply getting this virus, there is significant risk in hiding too.

In my opinion a common sense targeted approach is about the only feasible solution while an immunity is developed for this virus. The immunity may be helped along if vaccinations are developed or immunity may just have to develop naturally (vaccinations for H1NI were never developed and 'curve flattened' and we still do not have a HIV vaccinations after decades of trying). Until such a time, it should be obvious by now that common sense needs to be applied; hand washing/hand sanitizing is paramount, masks in large indoor gatherings, and unfortunately the young kids (who can be walking petri dishes) need to stay away from those with existing medical issues.

My personal opinion is that hand washing/sanitizing is the key. But while I do avoid unnecessary hand shaking I do not avoid it completely; last week I shook the hands of three doctors and hugged one of them. Of course we all reached for the sanitizer after shaking but the point is even medical doctors understand that human contact is important. (I mean the surgeon had his hands inside my body last week, shaking his hand seemed less risky than that.)

Lastly and concerning risk calculations, consider the risk of getting in your car and driving somewhere. Frankly given the frequency of driving the risk of a serious accident or death is quite high; yet few of us are so fearful that we stay hidden in our homes and refuse to drive. I doubt many of us even think about the risk of driving every time we get in the car; very few people are willing to change our driving behavior just because of the risks involved.

The last 6 months for me have been no different than the last 6 years, the recent 'infection control awareness' has been a bit surprising to me. No one seemed to care about 7-8 million immunocompromised US citizens walking around last year. But now suddenly everyone is an virologist and preaching extreme infection control. If COVID went away next week, would the same people go back to not caring about those millions of immunocompromised people?
Don

I first check if any mail received is important. Most of it is philatelic and can wait. I usually receive 5-10 letters a week so that is not much. The mail is 'quarantined' for around a week, After which I open it and again isolate the envelope and content for another two or three weeks. I just wash my hands and sanitise any other instruments I have touched. That's all.

I tend to let things sit for a few days, although another strategy that I sometimes use is to open the envelope and let the inside contents (which are presumably clean after being in the postal system for several days) fall onto a table or desk. I can then either discard or set aside the envelope, and safely handle the inside contents after sanitizing or washing my hands. I expect the envelope itself would only be contaminated if a postal employee isn't taking the proper precautions, and I'm willing to bet that that's VERY unlikely. However, I still assume envelopes are contaminated if they've arrived recently.