How to maintain social distancing when moving during the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19)

Are you moving house during the coronavirus pandemic?

Moving to a new home has never been an easy thing to do. Now add the coronavirus pandemic that has been wreaking havoc on our lives ever since the start of 2020 and you’ve got yourself a real challenge on your hands.

How do you make sure you don’t get infected with COVID-19 during your move?

Without a doubt, the best defense against this highly infectious and deadly disease, caused by a newly-discovered coronavirus, is a phenomenon known as social distancing (aka physical distancing).

That’s right – in order to stay safe and healthy during the relocation process, you must know how to maintain social distancing when moving to a new home during COVID-19. And here’s how you should do it.

What is social distancing?

Social distancing is the practice of keeping a physical distance of at least 6 feet (roughly 2 arms’ length) from people who are not from your household. Keeping that safe space between you and other people, both indoors and outdoors, is critical for staying healthy during your move.

But why practicing physical distancing is so important?

COVID-19 spreads when people get in close contact with each other – that is, within 6 feet. Infection with the novel coronavirus can occur when an infected person sneezes, coughs, or even talks in close contact with other people and the fine droplets from his or her mouth are shot into the air and land on a nearby person’s mouth or nose. Those droplets can also be inhaled by another person and go directly into their lungs.

When moving house, physical distancing is the best weapon to fight the spread of COVID-19 because infected people can spread the coronavirus even before they know they are sick, even before they show any symptoms at all. Of course, you must also practice social distancing with a number of other safety measures to stay safe during your move:

• wearing a mask over your mouth and nose,
• not touching your face before you’ve washed (sanitized) your hands,
• washing your hands regularly, and
• cleaning and disinfecting, on a daily basis, surfaces that are frequently touched.

Good advice: How Facebook and Twitter can help you move

How to maintain social distancing when moving: 5 steps

Here are the top 5 ways to maintain physical distancing when moving from one home to another.

Step 1. Don’t search for free moving boxes

One thing to remember is that a coronavirus pandemic crisis is not the best time to be looking for free moving boxes. The hunt for free packing materials involves visiting many places in your area that usually offer cardboard boxes for free – such as local supermarkets, home electronics stores, bookstores, and so on.

Even if you choose to get free packing boxes online to avoid the physical contact with strangers, you can never know for sure whether the packing supplies you get are virus-free or not. The risk is just not worth it – COVID-19 can live for hours or days on a surface depending on a number of factors. For the same reason, getting cardboard boxes from friends can be risky as well.

And since you have no idea who may have used those cardboard containers before that, it’s best to purchase all boxes brand-new from a reputable store or use the alternative moving containers you already have in your home.

See also: Alternative packing supplies in your home

Step 2. Skip the parties (both farewell and housewarming ones)

Social distancing during the coronavirus pandemic is all about limiting the number of people you come into contact with – it’s critical that you limit your social interactions until COVID-19 is completely under control. And until that happens, the worst thing you can do is decide to organize a farewell party before you move away, or even worse – to throw a housewarming party after the move is complete.

Health authorities advise against people gathering in groups because that only increases the risk of infection with COVID-19.

Of course, the people you will invite to your party will not be strangers but rather your dear friends – people you know quite well and trust. Nevertheless, studies have shown that the novel coronavirus may be spread by people who are not showing any symptoms. What that means is that no matter how much you trust your friends, someone may still come to your party without knowing that he or she has already been infected and, therefore, will be contagious at the time of the farewell / housewarming party.

See also: How to say goodbye to friends when moving

Step 3. Don’t go for a DIY move

Organizing a self-move may seem like a great idea when it comes to practicing social distancing during a move – you won’t need to have complete strangers (professional movers) come into your home where maintaining a safe distance of about 6 feet will prove almost impossible to do.

On second thought, choosing to move by yourself will almost certainly mean that you’ll be forced to ask your good friends to come and give you a hand with packing up your things, or moving heavy furniture, or most often – both. And when your pals arrive in your home, you’ll find it really difficult to stay 6 feet away from each one at all times and get everyone to carry a mask over their mouth and nose, especially when hauling a huge china cabinet down the stairs.

Moving by yourself often involves renting a moving truck as well, and you just can’t know for sure how well that van has been cleaned and sanitized after the previous DIY job.

Good to know: FIVE (4+1) reasons why moving by yourself is not worth the trouble

Step 4. Hire full-service movers who care

One of the best ways to maintain social distancing when moving house is to hire full-service movers who will follow strictly all safety procedures (wearing masks, keeping their truck and equipment properly disinfected, etc.), thus proving that they do care about their own safety and the safety of their clients. What you don’t want to do is pick a random moving company whose staff will have no clear idea of what they should do during the current pandemic situation.

First and foremost, you need to hire a trustworthy moving company that will pack (if necessary) all your things, load them safely into their moving truck, and then transport those belongings to the new address. You need to get in touch with a good moving company that will request, for everyone’s safety, that you do not be present on Moving day.

On the day of the move, you can either choose to isolate yourself in a room that’s far from the action, or leave the home altogether during the actual move. In case of any questions or problems, your movers will contact you on the phone to sort out any issues.

Read also: What is full-service moving?

Step 5. Find movers who offer virtual cost estimates

An excellent way to maintain physical distancing when moving during COVID-19 is to find a top-rated moving company that offers virtual cost estimates without the need to visit your home for an in-person cost calculation.

Prior to COVID-19, reputable moving companies would request in-home surveys from their clients so that they could estimate the moving cost much more precisely. Having the chance to see in person all household items meant for transportation and to assess any possible risks on Moving day (narrow hallways, small doorways, steep stairs, etc.) proved very beneficial for both parties.

But now, as one of the measures for minimizing or, whenever possible, eliminating the contact between movers and clients, the best moving companies in the country offer virtual cost estimates done over the Internet. Nevertheless, those virtual quotes are still fairly accurate thanks to the virtual tour of the home enabled by specialized video communication tools.

Request your virtual quote here.