Truck in shop closed by Covid

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My sister in law has her truck in the shop for a valve cover gasket and now the shop is closed temporarily because a mechanic got Covid. She is afraid to get it back. I told her to put on a mask and gloves and take it to a detail shop when she gets it back and tell them it was exposed.
 
I wouldn't be so cavalier as most of the guys posting here, as if covid is a joke. With that said, what he said \/ (bold/CAPS added for emphasis):

You mean she's afraid to get it back now, or in a couple weeks?

In any event she has nothing to worry about, especially if she has to wait A FEW DAYS TO two weeks.

Tv has brainwashed so many.

Who watches TV these days?
 
Let them park the car outside after they complete the work and let it sit a couple of days. If the virus is present on surfaces of the car it will die in short order, a couple of days should be plenty. Practice safe distancing when paying and wear a mask and gloves. If she's still afraid tell her to wear a mask and gloves for the ride home. I wouldn't be worried in the least, following the advise I mentioned.
 
I wouldn't be so cavalier as most of the guys posting here, as if covid is a joke. With that said, what he said \/ (bold/CAPS added for emphasis):
In this particular instance, as mentioned earlier, fomite transmission isn't a big issue, primary transmission method is respiratory. This isn't the same as norovirus. If you are exposed to someone, quarantine is recommended, but nothing about surfaces that an infected person may have exposed themselves to.
 
There's nothing to worry about, especially if they're closed for multiple days. The virus will only live on surfaces in a car for a few days, depending on the surface. If she's still very worried about it, there's way to sanitize the car that can be easily found online, as well as in the first link I posted.

You can shorten that time frame considerably.

The initial reports from a year ago that said "days on surfaces" were based on detectability. We now are fairly certain that the virus is non-viable within minutes in normal conditions, even if the RNA can be matched for several days. The "spikes" seen in the rendering are very active chemically, which makes them very vulnerable to damage.

It's very difficult to tell the difference between 99.99% and 100% safe. It's not worth going to extremes, but an extra step of opening windows or letting something sit in the sunlight could provide an extra bit of safety, or at least some mental comfort.

Note that this won't help with a bunch of other nasty things, which I'll gently call "restroom tracks". They can live a long time on surfaces.
 
I'd echo disinfecting the touchpoints (key, steering wheel, HVAC/radio, seat controls, door handle, etc) and then definitely drive it home with the windows down (and I'd keep the mask I wore in to pay on for the ride home) - that should be plenty of caution. Bonus if she can park it in the garage with the windows down for a while, or maybe keep them cracked if she parks outside, but that's probably not necessary. I've done this the few times any of our cars have been taken in to a shop etc in the past year. The best possible information points to surface transmission not being too big of a deal, but a bit of care here seems worth the peace of mind. The tradeoff on doing those few things are pretty minimal - what, a couple Clorox wipes and some fresh air?
 
That happened to my bicycle in November. I took it in for new shift cables. Went back next day to pick it up, discovered the shop was closed for 2 weeks. Didn't disinfect my bike, never contracted anything.
 
Surface spreading of Covid is very rare way, the vast majority is airborne. Maybe pickup for her spray it down with disinfectant so she smells it and call it a day. Reality is though what she feels is what matters.

The mental effects of Covid are terrible including the overbelievers/disbelievers etc. Hope for the best with your sister
 
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