How we protect ourselves against CoVid-19 at the movies

We see around 160 movies each year for RunPee and since the spread of CoVid-19 began we’ve had to make some adjustments.

Disclaimer
This is our protocol. We’re not medical experts. Take it or leave it as you see fit.

Prime Directive

RunPee Mom (Ginger) is 71 years old. She’s healthy now and we want to keep it that way. Since CoVid is particularly dangerous to people 60+ we are doing all we can to limit her exposure. Besides visits to the vet for her sweet Molly-girl she doesn’t leave the house. But that won’t do any good if either I or Vera contract CoVid and bring it home to her, so we are extra careful.

First, we have masks. One thing you’ll hear over and over in the news is that masks aren’t generally recommended. However, that’s is annoyingly misleading because it depends on the type of mask. Surgical masks are barely effective, if at all, because they don’t create a tight seal around the mouth and nose. However, N95 masks are very effective because they do form a tight seal. The masks we have an N99 masks and create a double seal. If for no other reason, they prevent us from touching our mouth and nose during the movie. I also have my glasses on which helps remind me not to touch my eyes. (Who knew it would be so hard to avoid touching our face all the time?)

Note: if you have the flu/CoVid then any mask is effective in preventing you from spreading the virus.

Surgical staff don’t wear a masks to protect themselves from the patient; they wear masks to protect the patient from themselves.

Besides that, we carry hand sanitizer with us and Clorox bleach wipes so that we can clean the arm rests.

Peetimes Going Forward

My plan is to continue adding movies and getting Peetimes for movies as long as theaters are open, or I get sick. We’ll be careful and of course we’ll keep you updated here if anything changes.

Spacing

I’m pretty sure every theater has assigned seats these days. We always choose seats in the very back corner of the theater so that we don’t disturb others while we take notes and there’s rarely anyone else sitting in that area unless the show is sold out.

If you go to the theater and someone is sitting nearby I’d recommend waiting until midway through the trailers to get up and find another seat that has some distance from others. It’s a reasonable precaution if you’re going to be sitting there for 2+ hours.

The staff at our local theater knows me well enough that they don’t even ask which seat I want. Depending on the theater size it’s either H1/H2, or F1/F2.

After the movie, when we get back to the truck, we wipe our hands, glasses, phones, everything we can think of with sanitary wipes. First thing we do when we get home is go Macbeth on our hands, or, better yet, just take a shower.

When I go to any public restroom I always wash my hands and make sure I do not touch anything on the way out. If necessary I use a hand towel, or my sleeve, to open the door. In fact, I generally use my sleeve anytime I have to touch a door handle in public. If I don’t have long sleeves and I must use a door handle then I always grip with only my middle finger — because I never touch my face with my middle finger — and I touch the door handle in the most awkward location I can think of, where other people don’t touch.

General Tips

Here’s a few things I’ve learned about viruses in the past few weeks.

• Viruses generally survive on smooth surfaces longer than rough/porous surfaces, like clothing and such.
• Bacteria are the opposite: they survive on spongy material longer. (Silver is a naturally antibacterial because, even though it feels smooth to us, at the atomic scale it’s like shards of glass to bacteria.)
• We should all know that sponges are nasty. Consider using a bristle brush instead. They’re much more sanitary.

What do you think? Drop me a comment below if you have any sanitary tips to share.