If he/she is willing to do it, I would stay away while they are there, not even walk within 6 feet of it for 3+ hours, and not touch any surfaces they touched for 3 days. After that i'd go wild.

Do you have any other doorway? If not, wipes are your friend but still observe the 3 hours when things could be airborne.

I would do it. Just stay 6 feet away from the installer.

I believe the chances of contracting the virus from a surface like a window blind are very, very low.

I probably wouldn't. I just don't want ANY unknown potential source of infection in my home or the home of my parents, but only you can know how comfortable you are with it. The installer likely needs the pay that the work will generate, but I would personally still wait.

So far I’d only give myself a B for social distancing. I’ve had to go to the post office where the clerk has interacted with god knows how many people, went to Target yesterday for life sustaining supplies ( hair color and Xtarbucks French Roast) and ha d too many people come within six feet because evidently they have not heard the news.

i think I will go ahead and do it, using all the precautions listed above. Fortunately I have plenty of wipes and Lysol. Too bad Coronavirus doesn’t show up under a black light like other germs.

Thanks for helping me think this through, or should I say rationalize doing what I want to do.

Can you speak with the installer and tell him you would like the work done but that you're concerned about following our new social protocol. So no wandering off to use your bathroom. After he left I'd spray Lysol in the area and then wipe the hard surfaces.

It’s all these little interactions that are not helping to slow down the spread of the virus. Will the installer have to leave his house to go to a business to pick up tools? Will the installer have to buy gas for his car? Stop for coffee?

I always wonder how I would feel if, or when, I hear that someone that I may have crossed paths with gets sick.

It’s a good time for a little self sacrifice. (Catholic school lessons stick.)

Wait. In my state we are ”shelter in place”, and hanging a Roman blind is not considered an essential activity. (Unless, I suppose, it’s in your front-facing bathroom...)

So I heard from the installer. She does the installation by herself. She assured me that she has not been many places, so I feel the risk is minimal. i will wipe thoroughly after she goes and admire my shades from a distance for a few days.

i sure hope none of my kitchen appliances gives up the ghost during this time, at least the fridge. That would take several delivery people and maybe even a carpenter to accomplish. I will speak softly to it for now although its doing fine.

Grateful I did not go to Catholic school. I was a guilt free Presbyterian, now fallen.

May having to wait awhile to install the shade be the worst thing that happens to you during this crisis.

ETA: Too late. Hope it all goes well. And with predestination, you may have had a helpful tip about how this all ends. ;-)

If you feel you are able to keep a good distance and wipe down everything she touches AND do not touch your face during or after (before you take a nice cleansing shower) I say go for it.

Sometimes it is the little things athat keeps us going in times like these. Just a new roman shade can make your day or week.

Apologies for sounding like a crazy person, but droplets of the virus can hang in the air for up to 3 hours. Isn't that bizarre? don't go there even to wipe it down until 3hours after she leaves.

Toby, the installer is protected because Ded is going to keep her distance. It sounds like your precautions are in line and good for you for checking all this out with the installer.

I am finding that many people don't understand this virus.

I promise she and I will stay at least six feet apart. I will prop the doors open so she won’t touch them. I’ll move everything so she has a clear path. I will shower head to toe after she goes with special attention to my hands. I will PayPal the money to her. I won’t touch the shades for three days. It’s her decision whether or not to come in my house and she is willing. I am relatively lower risk because there’s only one person here, me.

When I went to Target I wore gloves mostly to remind me to not touch my face. I took my own bag and did not use a cart. I asked the checkers to drop things in my bag and then I wiped everything with Clorox wipes when I got home after washing my hands. I also wiped the doorknobs.

we are not under shelter in place orders yet, just social distancing.

Can you just put it off for a few weeks or better yet, a month? We are at a critical juncture.

Surgeon General Jerome Adams on Monday reiterated an urgent call for Americans to follow recommendations to stay at home in order to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

“I want America to understand this week it's going to get bad,” Adams said Monday in an appearance on NBC’s “Today.”

https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/488974-surgeon-general-on-coronavirus-this-week-its-going-to-get-bad

Sorry, I am a strong vote for wait. I understand you think you are taking every precaution-- but why? One miss and you and she are at risk. The governor has ordered non-essential businesses shut down. Your area of the state is still growing in confirmed cases. Why add any risk even if low?

I think what has surprised me are the numbers of people who push the boundaries. Sure, we can all decide for ourselves-- but we're also deciding for our communities. Our loved ones, the ones who have to interact with us for essential services. I feel this is a time to think bigger than ourselves and our needs/desires.

You are willing to risk your own health and the health of your community for a roman shade? Seriously? Watch a couple of youtube videos and do it yourself or wait.

If I can teach myself to make mitered corners on a cloth napkin from a set of diagrams I found on the internet, you can teach yourself how to install a roman shade. I mean, after cleaning, purging, weeding, etc., what else are you gonna do?

Just wait.

You don't want to get her sick. There's a good chance you have it and are blessed with an asymptomatic case. And even if SHE doesn't get sick, she might pass it on to that old guy at the fabric shop, or her mother, or that sweet little kid with a touch of asthma. And they could die after passing it on to others who don't get to choose each exposure.

Every screwup puts us in lockdown for a few more days. Be selfish and contact no one so you can back to normal sooner!

See if she will deliver it and then Duo or Facetime or Skype guide you through installation.

We are on Day 8 of self-imposed quarantine. (i think our state's doesn't start till 8pm tonight). No one has been in our home. Our stuff from our FL trip is finally out of quarantine, having sat in one area untouched since our arrival. No one is sick or vulnerable. I have left the house 3x to go to the grocers' (still getting the hang of it) and one time to go to a Dr apptmt.

Of my 3 kids, one left once to go buy groceries w me. Other 2 have stayed put.

DH left 2x to buy groceries w me and otherwise not at all. Realized going forward we will shop alone.

So I think I have pretty good virus cred.

But I will let my landscapers come and I would let someone hang a shade with the precautions I listed. My personal view is that is entirely reasonable, Ded. The CDC isn't going to come out with a 500 page manual on this stuff. YMMV.

Excellent points, Fori.

I would not do it. It’s a non-essential service. It is best for all involved to wait on the installation. Why risk getting sick or getting someone else sick?. Many people are asymptomatic carriers.

I can see everyone’s points, both ways. I took down the old cellular shades myself so we won’t cross contaminate that way. I’ll give it some more thought. I will offer to send her the money so she does have to worry about that. I doubt anyone is ordering new window treatments now.

If each of us bends just a little because we say we are taking strong precautions, then there is no social distancing! We are each making up the rules to suit ourselves. Oh, that's just great.

I am in the camp of postponing this. Imagine how your neighbors would feel seeing you having something nonessential being done at this critical time?

Ded, there really isn’t two ways in this case.

Link to another thread right here in discussions: https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5884886/what-am-i-missing-a-social-distancing-question#n=33

You titled your post "...I shoudnt, should i"

This is what you wrote in your initial post: My new roman shade is ready to be installed. I’m just dying to have it done.

You know The right thing to do.

Jeez, you guys know how to twist an arm! Our governor just issued a stay at home order, so I guess the shade install is off.

Sometimes decisions are made for us.

Ded, I'll bet you were sorry you asked. ;)

I'm sorry Ded. I think with the measures you were going to follow, it would have been fine. The social distancing is what we are being told to do. However, now that there is a "stay at home order", that makes the decision for you. I'm with Ida though, I bet you are sorry you asked!

For the record, I did not call your governor.

#stayhome #stopthespread #actlikeyouhavethevirus

^^^ I saw maddielee whispering into her phone earlier, so .... 🤔

LOL!

Ha! Well then it was decided for you.

I wish we could get more clarity on things. I've been getting pretty freaked about aerosolized virus and virus lurking on surfaces for days. Then I read that not only do few experts believe it spreads that way, it actually spreads in clusters of family, friends, or coworkers. That sounds like person to person contact not a stray virus floating in the bread aisle.

I was sure you would all say to wash your hands and go for it since we share the same decorating obsession. But nooooo.

Wonder how the heck long this is going to go on? I’m tired of it already and we’re seem to be just getting started. Imagine how much worse this would be in pre-internet days, although then I wouldn’t have had anyone to tell me not to hang the shades!

Ded, do you actually have the blind at your house, or is it with the installer?

I'm prepared to practice social distancing for several months. Just think about sacrifices that many like Ann Frank made in WWII. This is a piece of cake.

Bunny, at the installer. No way I’m trying it myself anyway. It’s big.

Dedtired....the Y has just announced that they are closed til mid May as the earliest opening date. There may be months, many months before ‘normal’ returns.

The Olympics are postponed for a year.

Okay Ded, I'll lay off the install it yourself suggestions. :)

A member of my book club thought she was being very careful. When she went to the gym she said only one other person was in her class so it was ok. When she needed a little touch up on her new closet install, just one person came out.. She was safe.

Yesterday I got a text from her. She went to a local hospital for tests because she didn't feel well. The Covid test results will be back tomorrow but the doctor was "almost certain" it was Covid.

So, if it were me, I would wait for anything that wasn't absolutely necessary no matter how good it made me feel.....except for chocolate.

Aww sorry Ded!

If you have no privacy now, search Amazon for "temporary blinds". Some even have good delivery dates still!

When I was having my backyard done, I dressed some naked windows with peel'n'stick paper blinds so the dog and I weren't in a fishbowl all day. They went up easy and peeled off safely after months.