USPS addresses COVID concerns
With social distancing, temporarily closing businesses and canceled events all resulting in changes to our normal lives, several businesses and services have been deemed as essential and continue to keep some semblance of normalcy during these strange times.
One such service is the mail carrier system offered by the United States Postal Service (USPS).
With everyone staying home, the need for packages and mail to be delivered to our doorsteps has increased, but postal service customers have concerns over the safety of the parcels left on their doorstep...could COVID-19 be spread through the mail?
Recently, a study issued by the New England Journal of Medicine raised concerns that packages and paper-mail may be carriers of COVID-19 germs after stating that the virus could be detected for up to 24-hours on cardboard.
While these 24-hours are vastly shorter than the 72-hours that it can be found on plastic and stainless steel, the journal's findings still raised concerns.
People began wondering if they should allow packages to remain on their porch in the sunlight for several hours, or if they should wait and let their mail sit in the mailbox before checking the mail – but according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), the United States Surgeon General and Michelle A. Kulik, manager of Post Officer Operations for the Florida Panhandle Area, that's not necessary.
“The potential for the virus to survive on goods is very low,” says Kulik. “Considering, they are being transported over weeks or days, they are going through various conditions or temperatures.”
The amount of time it takes for a package or enveloped mail to get from the sender to the receiver, as well as the different conditions the parcel goes through in the meantime, all contribute to a “very, very low” transfer-rate and COVID-19 survivability.
This includes overseas packages and mail – due to the sheer amount of time (“days, or weeks,” says Kulik) it takes for overseas mail to make it to the United States, it is extremely unlikely for COVID-19 to cross international lines by way of mailed package.
The greatest chance that a USPS consumer has of contracting COVID-19 through the mail isn't actually through the mail itself, but through the postal carriers and post office workers they may come in contact with, and to that degree, Kulik says the USPS is taking great measures to control spread within their offices.
For starters: “We quickly updated our cleaning procedures per the CDC guidelines,” says Kulik.
The second step, she was, was putting in place plastic sneeze and cough barriers to protect postal workers and customers alike.
In the Monticello Post Office, like many other post offices around the country, plastic sheeting now hangs at face-level, separating the two sides of the postal desk – post office workers on one side, post office customers on the other.
“We're also doing various things to advocate social distancing,” says Kulik, explaining that many post offices (including Monticello's) have put taped markers on the floors of their lobby, showing customers where to stand while waiting to be served.
“[It’s] to help customers and remind them of what practicing proper social distancing looks like, giving them that six-foot visual indicator,” says Kulik.
Additionally, Kulik says the USPS has made changes to its sick-leave policies, giving employees more opportunity to stay home if they are not feeling well.
“All of our employees earn sick leave and are encouraged to not come in if they are sick,” she says. “Per the Families First Act, we have added additional types of leave that employees can take, related to the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Some of those types involve giving employees leave if they (or a dependent) are in the midst of being tested or are COVID-19 symptomatic, as well as leave for parents who have school-aged children who are currently at home due to school closures.
“We've also temporarily relaxed our leave policy and are more liberal with allowing them to take leave.”
These expanded sick-leave policies encourage USPS workers to not feel forced to come into work, even if they are feeling unwell, and promote a sense of job security while taking leave, rather than possibly spreading illness due to continuing to work.
Other steps taken by the USPS include offering masks, gloves and cleaning supplies to their branch offices and expanding the telework options for employees who are capable of working from home.
With their mail carriers, the people that go from mailbox-to-mailbox, door-to-door delivering mail, the USPS has made some changes to protect employees and customers alike.
In order to safeguard those they serve and employ, Kulik says the USPS has waived the requirements for customers who need to sign for packages. Now, package-receivers will not have to directly interact with the tablet and pen offered by the carrier as they sign for a package.
“That can be done via a verbal transaction now,” adds Kulik. “The customer does not have to grab our scanner or our pen – there's no hand-off there.”
Instead, the customer provides their verbal identification for the package, the mail carrier enters it and the package is left on the doorstep or porch, where the receiver can pick up the parcel once the carrier has stepped away.
All of this can be done from six-feet apart, keeping social distancing the whole while.
But all of these changes for the benefit of community safety, Kulik says, requires participation from their customers.
Kulik says the USPS is asking their customers to respect six-foot distancing when in the lobby or when interacting with mail carriers in order to protect both parties against COVID-19 spread.
In addition, if you are experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, do not visit your local post office.
“We are asking our customers who are symptomatic to, please, don't come into our retail locations,” says Kulik. “We do have options online to purchase stamps and to ship things.”
The mailing services provided by the USPS are an essential, vital service.
Not only do letters and packages keep people connected while they are otherwise apart, Kulik adds that they also serve as a lifeline for people who cannot leave their homes during this time.
“Right now we are an essential service to the public. We are delivering medicine, we are delivering goods, a lot of grocery items and toilet paper – things that people need and would normally be going out into the public to get,” says Kulik. “By the service that we are providing, we are delivering this to their door, allowing them to really self quarantine and not go out into the public and be exposed to the unknown.”
The United States Postal Service isn't just essential – it is crucial for keeping life something near-normal and for protecting those who are quarantined in their own homes.
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