There are lots of viruses that spread about in the winter, and kill. Years ago food shops had staff behind the counter to serve customers so they where the only ones to handle the food before you received it, now most of us go to the supermarket for our food, in turn picked up and put down by many hands ( the public) Would you be offended if supermarkets installed sanitising gel at the entrance to their store, or would you use it without question. With the present virus looming this could be put in place very quickly.
As it is an airborne virus, apart from using the sanitising gel the shoppers would also have to wear face masks for any sort of protection from an infected shopper.
A couple I often see in the local supermarket wear latex gloves.
Not a bad idea when you see the way some children are allowed to ‘play’ with the fresh produce.
Anyone who has read anything official about coronavirus will know that the face masks are virtually pointless and ineffective against airborne viruses. It's hands to face that is the issue.
I would unhesitatingly use the gel. A friend was unwell at the monthly 'Coffee, cake & a chat' get-together at the Community Centre on 25th Jan.. She'd got some sort of virus and was coughing.
Monday she also picked up a urinary infection and was ambulanced to hospital as an emergency on Tuesday. Friday, she developed pneumonia and was moved to Intensive Care. Sepsis set in on Tuesday and she died on Thursday - so I shall be going to her funeral on the 18th. No real health issues before then apart from replacement hip.
All this from a seemingly ordinary infection. I'd advocate gel dispensers everywhere possible.
Very very sorry to hear that jourdain. Hand gel is never going to be the answer to every bug/virus, but may be put a big dent in a rapid spread in places were there,s large numbers of the public handling food and trolley handles at supermarkets, they don't use it in hospitals for the fun of it, or toilets. Better to do something than nothing.
I use baby wipes sprayed with detol and just wipe all the packs down, or if they are double sealed ie cardboard box and wrapped in plastic i will open the box and slid the item out and discard the cardboard. It is a pain and time consuming, but i've been doing it for 5 years and have never been ill in that time.