Can You Catch Coronavirus From Food Delivery?

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Between the closure of bars and restaurants, and staying at home to flatten the curve, it means lots of meals eaten at home. For some, that’s an issue because they’re used to going out. For others, it’s a problem because they’re on quarantine and can’t go out. Either way, delivery is an option.

But that brings up the question – can you catch coronavirus from food delivery?

The New England Journal of Medicine did a study on COVID-19 and discovered that along with being stable in aerosol/droplet form (read: via a cough or sneeze) for up to 3 hours, the virus was also detectable on copper for 4 hours, on cardboard for up to 24 hours, and for 2 to 3 days on plastic and stainless steel.

But what about food?

It’s probably not a problem.

• According to Harvard Health, there’s no evidence that the virus can spread from an infected person through the food they’ve handled or prepared
• According to the FDA, there’s no evidence that food or food packaging can transmit COVID-19
• When food is cooked, coronavirus is likely to be killed during the cooking process, because of the high temperature
• I also don’t remember where I read it, but even if the virus was somehow in/on your food and still alive, once you swallowed it, the acid in your stomach would kill it.

So nope, you probably don’t need to worry about the possibility coronavirus in/on your food.

That being said, you still want to have precautions about the plastic bag or cardboard box your food comes in, just in case. So when your food is delivered, after you’ve tipped the delivery person well, dish out your food and throw away the stuff it all came in. Then wash your hands and the countertop/table where it sat. And then eat.

If you’re new to food delivery, we’d appreciate it if you used either (or both!) of these referrals:

• DoorDash: Click on this link to get $5 off your first 3 DoorDash orders over $15
• UBER Eats: Use the code eats-q47f4 on this page to get $7 off your first UBER Eats delivery.

Full disclosure – if you use either or both referrals, we get a little bit back, which helps things going strong here at YMMV. Thanks!

#stayathome #washyourhands

*** Feature photo (cropped): “Delivery food in south Korea with fried noodles” by Ahrbear is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary