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Make sure they wear masks and if it makes you feel better, spray the place down after they leave. Gloves will not make a difference, they contaminate just as easy as bare hands and you can't "wash" gloves like you can hands. It may make them feel better but will not make a difference.
Anxiety is a pain, but knowledge is often the counterbalance. Remember, they are probably just as concerned about catching something from YOU as you are from them. They have to go to strangers' houses and deal with equipment through which air from germy homeowners has been traveling.
I am not sure that they would have to go near any intake, although I can't know what your setup is. A/C pushes heat out, it doesn't take air in. Again, they are likely in more danger of you giving them something, and their risk is probably very small, so yours even less.
Perhaps it will help the anxiety to view them as in the same situation as you and think of their health as well as your own, that you and they are in the same position of wanting to stay healthy. If everyone takes the proper precautions, it should be fine. You need the air conditioning in summer in NC, I'm sure! I can't stand the heat and humidity even here in NJ, 600 miles north of you, and I've been to NC and know how awful it can be there in summer!
Thank you. One of the issues is our filter, at our intake, is getting wet from the AC. So essentially they will have to remove the filter and be right in the air intake as the system is running to diagnose. Which is my main concern.
But we will be out of the house while they are performing the maintenance.
I'm nervous and going back and forth whether to cancel, but I just don't want it to get worse and have to have them come anyway, and then probably spend more time.
Thank you. One of the issues is our filter, at our intake, is getting wet from the AC. So essentially they will have to remove the filter and be right in the air intake as the system is running to diagnose. Which is my main concern.
But we will be out of the house while they are performing the maintenance.
I'm nervous and going back and forth whether to cancel, but I just don't want it to get worse and have to have them come anyway, and then probably spend more time.
I am sure if you are out of the apartment everything should be ok. It seems to appear the fear of germs being on surfaces may not be much to worry about. It is more the close contact with a possible infected person that is the baddy!!!
We had to have a new hot water heater installed after the flood last month. We're in Cook County, a hot zone here in Illinois. I kept the windows open in the basement. I know he didn't have a mask on the whole time either. We stayed out of the basement for hours after he left with the windows open.
It's harder for you in an apartment, but you can stay 6 feet away and both parties must wear a mask.
I just went through two hospital visits with multiple people drawing blood, doing a chest X-ray, and EKG, and a physical exam by a physician clearing me for surgery. That was done in the outpatient center of a Covid hospital in Chicago last month.
The surgery was done in another town that was full of Covid last week. The very last test I had before surgery was for a Covid test, and I tested negative. This was all high risk and I'm fine.
The key is the mask. I wore an N95 with a surgical mask over that. You'll be fine if you follow the medical guidelines.
Okay, that nurse who came in my room after surgery with her mask on her chin and sat three feet away from in in a chair? That concerns me. Especially since I found out she was cross trained in the Covid part of the hospital to work because surgeries were all but suspended. I'm a week post op today and still feeling great.
It's okay to treat Covid with the respect it deserves, but you have to live too. Just use your mask and insist the repair man do the same. It's the best defense we have right now.
Perhaps it will help the anxiety to view them as in the same situation as you and think of their health as well as your own, that you and they are in the same position of wanting to stay healthy. If everyone takes the proper precautions, it should be fine. You need the air conditioning in summer in NC, I'm sure! I can't stand the heat and humidity even here in NJ, 600 miles north of you, and I've been to NC and know how awful it can be there in summer!
^ This right here.
Just make sure they wear the necessary PPE (and you do the same) and you've all taken the necessary precautions.
Having working AC in the summer is a legitimate public health issue. This is not a frivolous repair or action on your part OP.
I had to close on a refi that started before the shutdown, so the closer had to come to my house, and I also had a repair guy come do something in my house since the shelter-in-place started, and I am in NJ, where COVID-19 was never some kind of joke and people take precautions seriously. Masks and gloves and Lysol are your friend.
Your state is just now beginning to get a taste of what this thing can do, and I sincerely hope that it doesn't get worse, but if you're going to have work done, NOW rather than later is probably the time to do it.
We had a repair guy in our place about 2 months ago in late April. We basically just avoided the guy. When we had to talk to the guy we wore masks, he wore a mask too. After he left we avoided the room where he did work for 4-5 hours to let any potential droplets/aerosol particles die off. After that we disinfected the area that he had worked in and any surfaces he may have touched (such as the door and door handle).
Masks, and keep your distance. My apartment complex sent people to work on all the a/c throughout. Thank goodness this was held off until the pandemic had mostly died down here but still, people took precautions and since the work was done in a bedroom of the unit, some people threw an old sheet over their bed and removed personal items that they touch a lot. I don't think you are being paranoid. If you lived in an area that this disease has already ravaged, you would take precautions.
If they're wearing masks and gloves and you're going to be in another room or out of the apartment, I personally wouldn't worry about it. I've wiped down door handles etc. after maintenance has been in my apartment since the pandemic started. Most sources I've seen say the virus can last in the air for several hours, so if it were me, I'd wear a mask for a few hours after they leave - or remain out of the apartment for a few hours.
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