To Strip or Not? Advice on What to Do After Grocery Shopping
By David Brooks
The Concord Monitor
Here’s yet another surprising effect that COVID-19 has produced in everyday life: Stripping once inside the front door has become routine.
Graduate student Castine Bernardy, while sheltering at home in York, Maine, performing hands-on research under the direction of UNH Prof. Jim Malley. Photo courtesy: Jim Malley, UNH
As you’ve probably guessed, the motive for rapid disrobing isn’t exhibitionism but fear. After I have gone out in public near other people – which these days means only to the grocery store – I shed the outside layer of clothing and toss it in the washing machine, just in case I’ve carried some coronavirus back with me.
Shedding your clothes in the mud room is routine for farmers, chimney sweeps, auto mechanics and other folks who wind up routinely filthy, but in those cases the need is obvious. What’s different with coronavirus is that it’s undetectable so you can’t be sure what is necessary.
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