Author: SunnyDaze
Date: 2020-05-03 11:15
Hi Paul,
I agree that the news is a bit heavy on the nervous system right now.
I'm choosing my news sources very carefully, which really helps. :-)
I have thought about the question of reeds and things very carefully
over the last 5 weeks, while I've been waiting to get back to my
clarinet, and a few things have become clearer to me in that time.
I suppose the question is most pressing for clarinet technicians,
since they have to blow into lots of instruments, belonging to lots of
people. They need to be very careful, but their work is time-sensitive, and the clarinets are hard to wash. As far as I can see, it is those people who are on the sharp end of this right now.
I've been thinking about how to deal with that, and here is what I've managed to figure out so far:
Clarinet technicians, as far as I'm concerned, are worth their weight
in gold and should be carefully looked after. So if we are handing
them an instrument to be worked on, we need to assume every time that
we clarinet owners are infectious, and that they are in an at-risk
group, and take appropriate steps. That's the only sensible way to
proceed. Presumably we do still need to send them instruments though,
after the lockdown, or else they would not be able to earn money.
So I suppose the question is - what do I (a potentially infectious
person) need to do to my clarinet to make it safe when it arrives in
the hands (or mouth) of an at-risk person?
It seems as though the things that kill this virus are time, and soapy
water. It doesn't make sense for me to only wash the mp before
drop-off, because I'm only going to cover it in bugs again. It doesn't
make sense for the tech to only wash it because then (s)he will get
covered in bugs while washing it.
That leaves time. That means that they would need to quarantine the
instrument for some time to make it safe after it arrives in the shop.
I don't think I would trust the 3 day rule on this. If it was me on
the receiving end I'd want a fortnight, though I understand that I
might not get it. Maybe 6 days? Nobody really knows the answer to that
I don't think, though the data is getting better. There are some good articles around like this one:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/04/how-long-does-coronavirus-live-on-different-surfaces
and this original research paper:
https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2004973
(This one says that viable virus particles are still found on plastic after 72 hours.)
I suppose the technician just needs to negotiate a quarantine period that they are happy with, and that the customer will accommodate.
Anyway, after the quarantine period, I'd be washing the mp really carefully, and paying special attention to any bits that have limescale build-up that might have virus particles stuck in them. Perhaps the customer might be kind enough to descale the mp before dropping it off? I understand that coronaviruses are a type that are particularly easy to destroy with soapy water, but again I'm not sure how we tell when we have got the mp really clean.
There is a bit more data on what can be used to kill the virus on
surfaces. This table is for sterilising 3D printed items, but mps
might be fairly similar maybe? (not sure). I think this is for viruses generally, rather than coronaviruses specifically, so maybe we need to be careful about that. Also I reckon this is something that the technicians have probably thought about quite a lot before.
https://twitter.com/jimhaseloff/status/1248691760458534915/photo/1
The business of dropping-off instruments at the shop would presumably be done in the same way
as grocery deliveries are currently done, where the person rings the
doorbell and lays down the instrument and then stands well back while
the tech picks it up, puts it in its quarantine location, and then
washes their hands.
It's all a massive faff and means that things would take a lot of
time, but if it means we keep the techs safe and in business, then I
think it would be very much worth it.
I suppose the alternative is that they all start running online teaching courses to teach us how to fix our own clarinets, which could be good too, and more hygienic. If Kalmen Opperman was still here, would he be running his own Youtube channel by now? I don't know. :-)
I imagine that a similar lot of shenanigans would be required if a person
wanted to test a new clarinet that they are considering buying, which
could get very slow indeed if they want to test five or six.
I suppose the hope really is that all this social distancing will bring the prevalence of the virus in the population down to such a low level that tracking contacts of infected individuals will become a viable option quite soon, and then all of this will stop being necessary. For that to happen, we all need to work really hard at our social distancing, but we are, so that's good.
Is that the sort of thing that you had in mind? I think that putting reeds in the bin where there is any doubt is probably a good idea. I have binned mine.
Jen
Disclaimer: This is my best understanding of it, but please if anyone is reading this - do think carefully, read the current best practice, which is changing on a daily basis, and make your own decisions. I'm reading round online and trying my best to figure this out, but I may be wrong and better knowledge may come along tomorrow to change all this entirely. Thanks!
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