Coronavirus-19, Plumbers and others: A Blue Collar View

Traveling house to house does not come without risk. Transmission can be dangerous for the visitor and the visited. Reasonable steps and expectations are important. It is always important to focus on details concerning risk.

For some people, especially high risk elderly people, it might be a good idea to delay repairs and maintenance until after we get a better understanding of our most recent health concerns.

For others, I suggest a few guidelines concerning what I think are reasonable expectations. Clean/sanitary gloves are much safer than clean hands. Gloves should be expected.

Fresh rubber gloves should be expected before a worker enters your home. You might ask about this expectation and others when you set-up visits to your home. There is always risk that tools and other things could quickly contaminate gloves and other surfaces-but fresh rubber gloves dramatically reduce risk.

It is probably best to not allow visits from anyone that might cough or have any signs of illness. In some cases, depending on availability, you might request that a visitor wear a face mask, bandana or other shield.

In most cases it seems best to not expect the use of shoe covers for anyone that might have to go back and forth to a truck or other vehicle. Shoe covers create lots of extra time and effort to put them on and take them off. Shoe covers can contaminate gloves. It is a good idea to provide a clean mat for visitors to carefully wipe their shoes and never expect a worker to remove their shoes.

These questions and requests should take place on the telephone and before any travel to your home.