[QUOTE=ewmayer;540797]I’m thinking maybe a quick blast of hot air from a heat gun, hot enough to get surface temp above ~200F but not long enough to damage the items. Even plastic and electronics (turn off first just to be safe) should be OK with a quick superficial heating.[/QUOTE]People in a different forum that I haunt were worried about mail. My first post was that it was several days old, thus had time for the nasties to die. After people kept worrying, I suggested putting it in a covered dish with a ramekin of water in an oven at about 120C for an hour, then turning the oven off and removing the lid for a few minutes (leaving it cool off in the oven). It is not an autoclave, but will do in most little nasties.

Another issue is how to get any nasties out of one's clothes - As with hand-washing, the main antiviral property of any kind of laundry soap likely lies in it lifting contaminants off the item being washed and allowing them to be washed away. But of course fabrics have a huge amount of surface area, nooks and crannies on those fibers. So “heat is your friend”, and the dryer has both that and, uh, dryness – from a [url=https://www.treehugger.com/cleaning-organizing/laundry-time-covid-19.html]Treehugger article[/url] about this:

“When using a communal washer and dryer, wash at the warmest water setting that your clothes can handle and dry for at least 45 minutes.”

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[url=https://www.ineteconomics.org/perspectives/blog/what-the-government-needs-to-do-next] What the Government Needs to Do Next to Tackle the Crisis[/url] | James K. Galbraith, Institute of New Economic Thinking -- The son of famous economist/historian John K. Galbraith

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;540801]People in a different forum that I haunt were worried about mail. My first post was that it was several days old, thus had time for the nasties to die. After people kept worrying, I suggested putting it in a covered dish with a ramekin of water in an oven at about 120C for an hour, then turning the oven off and removing the lid for a few minutes (leaving it cool off in the oven). It is not an autoclave, but will do in most little nasties.[/QUOTE]Paper will act like cardboard; virus life ~ a day. You might point out to them that stress is bad for them. The real germophobes could invest in a lab bench with copper work surface and exhaust hood, using a letter opener, gloves, lab apron, and goggles. Then shower afterward and burn the clothes they wore, after handling them like hazardous waste.

Tonight's numbers:
global:
cases 417966, deaths 28615, recovered 107705
CFR1 = 18615/(18615+107705) = 0.1474 = 14.74%
CFR2 = 18615/417966 = 0.0445 = 4.45%

USA:
cases 53740, deaths 686, recovered 348
CFR1 = 686 / (686 + 348) = 0.663 = 66.3%
CFR2 = 686 / 53740 = 0.0128 = 1.28%
[URL]https://www.arcgis.com/apps/opsdashboard/index.html#/bda7594740fd40299423467b48e9ecf6[/URL]

[URL]https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/[/URL]
global: 422566 cases, 18887 deaths, 108388 recovered
USA: 54808 cases, 775 deaths, 378 recovered; active cases 53655, of which 1175 are serious or critical

[QUOTE=Uncwilly;540801]People in a different forum that I haunt were worried about mail. My first post was that it was several days old, thus had time for the nasties to die. After people kept worrying, I suggested putting it in a covered dish with a ramekin of water in an oven at about 120C for an hour, then turning the oven off and removing the lid for a few minutes (leaving it cool off in the oven). It is not an autoclave, but will do in most little nasties.[/QUOTE]If only the old CRT TV sets and monitors were still around! You could just swipe the envelopes across the screen. Anybody who ever swiped their hand across a CRT screen would remember the crackling of static, and the unforgettable smell it left on your hand. Ozone!

Maybe if you have have a blacklight handy...

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;540818]Maybe if you have have a blacklight handy...[/QUOTE]
Most consumer ones are not the right spectrum nor strong enough. When I used to run coliform tests we had a UV sterilizer (for the funnels). It had an interlock so that it would not run when open. You didn't want that in your eyes or on your skin.

AI and their personal-assistants have been here for some time now. Much less complex (they don't necessarily have to have voice/image recognition) robotics are later to arrive than most would have expected, unfortunately. It could have been of great value right now. Where are the Boston-Dynamics products when you need them?

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;540762]"Could have" originated in the US? Oh, please.

If the novel Coronavirus [I]had[/I] originated in the US, it would surely have broken out in the US first. It didn't.

The pneumonia associated with E-cigarettes has not, AFAIK, shown any sign of being contagious. Also, patients were tested to rule out infection as a cause.[/QUOTE]
Did you bother to read, or are your prejudices* in full control?
*pre-judgements

Unc Willie's remarks were far more to the point.
[QUOTE]Welllll, doesn't the USofA have many people of many different nationalities that live there and travel "home". Also, doesn't the USofA have people traveling all over the place? [/QUOTE]Don't other G-whatever countries have high levels of globe-trotting? Japan's Patients 0 are currently identified as being infected in Hawaii. This conclusion can certainly change, but Japan is far ahead of the US in testing for and controlling the outbreak. Their data is more comprehensive for their own citizens, at least. However, they are also comparing to available world date.

It will be interesting to see if more than one strain shows up in other countries. However, the point of the article and the research is that all strains are found in the US. Are we to suppose that there were contemporaneous outbreaks of different strains, in different countries, which over time all got transported to the US? If that were the case there should be multiple strains in other countries, given the similar time frames.

[QUOTE=Dr Sardonicus;540798]Intended target?[/QUOTE]Think about it.

At present, certain types of shop are required to remain closed in Belgium to combat the virus but are allowed to open in the Netherlands.
In [URL="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baarle-Nassau"]Baarle-Nassau[/URL] they have such a shop straddling the border.
So the staff have put up a tape down the middle of the store,

keeping one half closed and the other open.

[QUOTE=xilman;540831][quote=Dr Sardonicus;540798]Intended target?[/quote]Think about it.[/QUOTE]I did. And at this point, it's hard to think of anywhere that's [i]outside[/i] the "target area."