I hate having roommates... :(

[person54321]

So for some reason this past week has been filled with people v* in public places. Today I was walking to the subway and a woman pulled over her car in front of me, threw open the door and started v* onto the sidewalk. I handled it well and calmly walked to the other side of the sidewalk and got on with my day. But here's the problem, this is the only way to get to the subway and both of my roommates walk that exact way, always on that side of the street to get both there and back. Neither of them will ever take off their shoes first thing coming home, especially the one I'm not very comfortable with yet. So they're going to walk right through that v* on the sidewalk, come into the apartment and track all that into the apartment and where I have to live. One roommate is my boyfriend and he's aware of my emet so I just told him about it and he said he'd walk on the other side of the street. But the other roommate is a new roommate and I don't know what to do. I feel very weird just leaving him a note saying, please walk on the other side of the sidewalk because I'm crazy. I mean I don't know for a fact that she had a stomach bug, but she looked really sick and v* many times in a row. So how do I deal with this/ask him to walk on the other side of the sidewalk or whatever? I don't want him tracking that into my apartment.

[Rebecca85]

To be honest, I think even a non emet would avoid walking in v on the street, same as you avoid walking in dog poop. It's just nasty.

[person54321]

In a big city the sidewalks are always covered in weird stains and such. No one looks at their feet unless they think there's something there. It would have also been dry by then. Someone would definitely walk right through it.

[Rebecca85]

But if it was dry, very little would go on their shoes, and most of what did would come off as they walked around the city. And then, why would their shoes touch anything important? If you think about it logically, only a tiny proportion of the virus (if it was even a virus) would still be active when your roommate stepped in it (assuming he did). Of that tiny proportion, only a tiny amount would transfer to the shoes. Of the virus on the shoes, most will come off/be destroyed while walking. Of the amount left on the shoes, only a small amount would transfer to the floor in the house. And how likely is it that something would touch the floor and then contaminate food? You would have to put a bag on the floor, then on the table, and then not clean it before eating or something.

[jkl81]

Assuming it was a virus, it probably didn't remain viable for very long in the weather. These things are good at hanging around in the human body and on high touch surfaces but throw in some weather and they become really fragile.