Is is safe to order a sex doll amid the Corona Virus scare?

During these difficult times, we aim to provide our customers with as much information and transparency as possible. Although we cannot offer a definite answer and any sort of medical or scientific opinion, in the post below we offer a possibly most comprehensive outlook on the problem of receiving international shipments and local deliveries.

What does WHO say?

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has stated that is 'safe' to receive packages from China. e.g. from their Facebook page

What does CDC say?

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention directly addresses this concern.

You can find it under "Frequently Asked Questions" in its COVID-19 section, "Am I at risk for COVID-19 from a package or products shipping from China?"In its answer, the CDC writes, "There is still a lot that is unknown about the newly emerged COVID-19 and how it spreads." But the health agency went on to state that based on the behavior of past coronaviruses, "In general, because of poor survivability of these coronaviruses on surfaces, there is likely very low risk of spread from products or packaging that are shipped over a period of days or weeks at ambient temperatures. Coronaviruses are generally thought to be spread most often by respiratory droplets. Currently there is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with imported goods and there have not been any cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods."

However

“The virus on materials they ordered would not survive such a trip. Outside the body, we believe this virus only survives on [an] object minutes to an hour or so, not the days it takes your goods to travel the globe,”  Patricia A. Stinchfield, vice president of the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), told Fox News in an email. “As always after handling things, wash your hands before touching your eyes, nose or mouth.”

Though scientists are still working to understand the novel virus, it is closely related to SARS, which can live on surfaces for about two days, according to a 2003 University of Minnesota study. Separately, in an analysis of 22 studies on other human coronaviruses —  such as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and endemic human coronaviruses (HCoV) — researchers found the viruses can “persist on inanimate surfaces like metal, glass or plastic for up to nine days.” More specifically, the viruses can remain infectious on such materials between “two hours up to nine days,” according to the paper published in The Journal of Hospital Infection. 

According to some other opinions, the survivability of SARS is 4-5 days on metal and paper. SARS is another coronavirus, and it is believed the RNA sequence is 80% identical to 2019-nCov. Similar survivability could be expected. Most of the tests in the above paper were carried out at room temperature. However it states that TGEV, another coronavirus, can last 28 days at 4°C.

Therefore, what should be taken into the account is the type of the surface we are dealing with, transit time, delivery method.

If people are ordering internationally, contracting the virus is even less of a concern, said Xi Chen, assistant professor of public and global health and economics at the Yale School of Public Health. Chen said viruses similar to the coronavirus, such as SARS and MERS, like low temperatures and low humidity, which aren’t consistent in transit.

Proper hand-washing and touching your face less are the best protections against the coronavirus, said Amar Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. William Schaffner, the medical director of the NFID, echoed Stinchfield. He noted that while touching surfaces infected with the virus can be a way to transmit it, this method is “a minor one in comparison to respiratory transmission." "Frequent handwashing” is important in preventing illness in general, he added.

What about local shipments?

Can the new coronavirus hitch a ride on packages delivered to your home from across the U.S.? Experts say there's really no reason to worry — it's extremely unlikely that the illness could ever be transmitted that way.

An Amazon worker in Seattle — the area where the deadliest cluster of cases in the U.S. has been centered — recently tested positive for the virus and is now in quarantine, a spokesperson told CBS News on Thursday. Amazon, the biggest tech company in the region, decided Wednesday to ask all employees in the area to work from home if possible through the end of the month. 

Many of the suppliers used by Amazon and other U.S.-based companies are based in China, where the virus originated. The connection has caused some to fear that packages coming to their homes could be affected. 

While it is theoretically possible that the virus could be present on the surface of a package, experts say it wouldn't last long. Dr. Jack Caravanos, clinical professor of Environmental Public Health Sciences at the NYU School of Global Public Health, told CBS News on Thursday that it is "highly improbable" due to the length of the journey and the harsh conditions it would face en route.

The coronavirus has "some environmental longevity (hours to days) depending on temperature, surface conditions, time and humidity," Caravanos said. But as the World Health Organization explains, "it is very unlikely that the virus will persist on a surface after it has been moved, travelled, and exposed to different conditions and temperatures."

"At this time, I truly believe viral transmission by contaminated packages is very unlikely." Caravanos said. "I would not take any special precautions opening or handling packages or envelopes."

What do AmericanSexDolls.com recommend?

We put our customers first, always. This challenging time has been a test for suppliers and vendors, not just in the sex dolls business but across the board. We do believe that in the long run, it is by putting our customers’ comfort and delivering 100% satisfaction service, always pays back. And we have always done so.

At this point, we don’t see any direct risk in connection with the type of product the sex doll is and the corona virus exposure. It is as with any other shipments and everyday life situation, we recommend common sense and basic hygienic measures. After all, those packages travel a long way and you ALWAYS want to make sure to follow basic standards of hygiene and prevention.

Having said that though, we can recommend a 2-step approach over the next few weeks:

1) For the dolls shipped directly from China (majority of orders):

• consider a ‘ship-to-hold’ option at your local UPS or FedEx store; it’s a free of charge service, mostly offering a 30-day window to collect your item.

• this way you can control the period of time that separates the production, shipping and delivery

• once delivered or picked up from your local carrier - you might want to consider additional 2-3 days storage period (e.g. in your garage etc)

• otherwise simply deal carefully with the packaging/box in order not to ‘contaminate’ the product itself (after all the box is always ‘contaminated’ anytime you receive a package)

2) For orders shipped from within the US:

• consider a ‘ship-to-hold’ option at your local UPS or FedEx store; it’s a free of charge service, mostly offering a 30-day window to collect your item.

• once delivered or picked up from your local carrier - you might want to consider additional 2-3 days storage period (e.g. in your garage etc)

We hope this helps and will put our customers at ease. After all it is good to stay calm, but it’s even better to be informed.

Why is it a good idea to buy a sex doll during a pandemic.

Let’s face it. Social life and human interactions might soon drop below zero. And regardless of the virus, romance and dating always expose you to a risk of a disease, STDs, viruses etc.

Sex dolls are still a safe alternative, and offer a private fulfilling and intimate sexual or psychological experience that in the environment that you can control.

Finally, to end on a upbeat note, here’s a quote from a book that probably is more relevant now, than ever before:

“To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell.”

― Gabriel García Márquez, Love in the Time of Cholera

In other words, don’t let the Coronavirus stop you from making your purchase, after all this time it is more important than ever to stay safe, to avoid unnecessary exposure and risk. And love is a risk itself. But love dolls aren’t.