-Isms: View on life in rural America

A subscriber posed an interesting question this week. Amid COVID-19 concerns, how safe are everyday objects many of us take for granted?

Can pieces of mail - more importantly- your copy of the Summerland Advocate-Messenger, transmit the virus? What about styrofoam boxes containing a carryout order from local restaurants? Take it one more step. What about foods we eat?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, data indicates it is highly unlikely any of these items carry the virus.

As of Tuesday, no evidence of food-borne coronavirus exists. If you work in the food industry, I imagine you are hypervigilant about following health recommendations to wash hands under water that is at least 77 degrees Fahrenheit, with soap, for a minimum of 20 seconds. Diners: you best be following this practice, too.

Back to the question about newspapers.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infection Diseases, World Health Organization and CDC report there are no documented incidents of transmission of the virus from a print newspaper, letter, magazine or print package.

While coronavirus lives longest on smooth, non-porous surfaces, like plastic and stainless steel, health officials report the strength of the virus declines rapidly when exposed to air. According to the NIH, during lab studies, the virus loses half its potency every 66 minutes. They also found the virus was not viable on cardboard after 24 hours.

“On newsprint, which is much more porous than cardboard, it seems likely to stay viable for even shorter periods,” according to the NIH report.

Our newspaper is printed in Sheldon, Iowa; sorted into mail containers by zip code; loaded in a delivery vehicle and brought to our office. I’ve been assured the press we print at takes precautions keeping surfaces cleaned.

Once papers are delivered to our office, we don gloves and transfers papers into new postal tubs, which have been wiped down. We load them in the car and take them directly to the Neligh Post Office - or carry them across the street to the Clearwater Post Office - for delivery.

The two of us who run vendor routes either wear gloves while delivering at each stop or use hand sanitizer after each drop off.

When the safety of our readers and community members is involved, we take every safety measure possible to ensure our newspaper is delivered safely.

We’ve also made the decision to have employees work from home as much as possible. I typically work from the office daily. We are always available via email or by phone.

While we have made adjustments to location, those of us who report and edit for the Advocate-Messenger, and those who help your businesses succeed and grow, still believe in producing a quality newspaper our communities are proud of. We are still working hard to bring the types of human interest stories you enjoy and continuing meeting coverage, via technology.

As a small business, we, too, are concerned about our nation’s economy and effects COVID-19 may have locally. Supporting local is important now, more than ever.

We hope this pandemic ends soon, that everyone remains safe. And our promise to you is simple: We will continue to spread the news, responsibly.