Safe to shop online

Hi @Stefsz . Thanks for your question! It is definitely a concern and quite interesting. 

In general I would say that you should practice good hygiene and possibly choose to disinfect the box/container/goods even if you receive them for a local supplier. Packages often go through the hands of multiple people and can be considered as a vector for transmission (fomites). As per CDC recommendations, COVID droplets are too heavy to be suspended in the air and tend to drop onto surfaces. Hence if someone was unwell while handling you package, it is possible for it to act as a vector for transmission theoretically. However given that this is often an unsuited environment for the bacteria to remain, the risk is much lower. Unfortunately the duration that COVID remains on surfaces is difficult to determine and can range from a few hours to several days. 

Overall, practice good hand hygiene, do not touch your face when handling the product initially and be sure to dispose of the boxes appropriately and you should be good to go!

Hope this helps! 

Dear @Stefsz ,

Thank you for your question which is a concern for almost all of us now as we transit to remote living and relying on home delivery a lot more.

Further to Dr. Adnaan S 's great suggestions, the other option (also recommended by Amazon on CDC's recommendation) is to leave the entire package outside (if that is a viable option) or to to leave it "in a remote location for a period of time." While it's not known exactly how long this particular virus can survive on cardboard packaging, in the long term it needs a host organism to survive and multiply. If it can survive on cardboard for only 24 hours, leaving it outside may kill it, allowing you to safely bring your package inside. 

Then, to be safe, you can wipe down the inside package as well after opening it.