How do I follow the mask guideline in my shared home?

[Danielle732]

I am wondering how to wear a mask in shared spaces like the kitchen.

I host using my spare bedroom and I have 3 young kids at home. We are generally

at home and we eat all 3 meals together in the kitchen. I allow my guests access

to my kitchen. If my family is eating, we obviously can't wear a mask, so how does

that work? Maybe I'm missing the obvious but I'm sure someone else has 

encountered this problem. Thank you!

[Gordon0]

I'd stop kitchen use during these times, @Danielle732. The risk factor (let alone the 'rules') make sharing the kitchen too much of a faff. 

[Danielle732]

Thank you, Gordon, that seems to make the most sense. I do feel badly shutting down kitchen use. I feel like it's such an asset for my guests to get to warm up their coffee, make toast, or put a pizza in the oven. Your solution may be the best one for this time.

[Sarah977]

I haven't hosted since early March because I also have a home share where guests have full use of my kitchen. In my case, it just wouldn't be practical not to offer kitchen use, as my place is a 20 minute walk from stores and restaurants and none of my guests drive here. Also many of my guests book here because they like to prepare their own meals.

Is there any space in your guest room to put a coffee maker, a mini-fridge and a toaster oven? If so, you could do that. I don't have room in mine, or I would have made those changes.

@Danielle732 

[Huma0]

@Gordon0 

This wouldn't work in my situation, where I host long-term guests. I cannot imagine not offering them kitchen access. These people are staying for months, not days, and are not tourists/coming for work meetings. They are living here and working from home and they need to eat. It would not only be totally uneconomical for them to go out for every meal, snack and drink and, even if they had the time/money to do so, it's hardly fair to ask them to repeatedly expose themselves when we are all being told to stay at home as much as possible.

There are only three solutions as far as I can see: 

1. Stop hosting on Airbnb.

2. Have designated times for kitchen use/meals so that we don't cross paths.

However, the latter doesn't address the issues of sanitising shared spaces. Do I have to go in and disinfect every surface after every time they or I enter the kitchen? Do I have to do this in shared bathrooms, e.g. each time someone goes to the toilet? There is no point suggesting that I leave out disinfectant and anti-viral wipes so that guests can do this themselves, because I started doing that at the beginning of the pandemic and nobody uses them.

As for guests wearing masks in all communal spaces. It's never going to happen. Not with long-termers anyway. They see this as their home and the only place they can finally take off their masks. Anyway, they can't wear masks while they eat or in the shower or while they brush their teeth!!

This policy is clearly a PR stunt or 'hygiene theatre' as highlighted in the Wired article on another post here. It is simply impossible I imagine for the vast majority of homeshare hosts.

[Gordon0]

I get it, @Huma0, there isn't a one-size-fits-all answer here. My guests are (max) 7/8 nights, but more often than not 3/4. They know the deal before they arrive (there's no kitchen access etc.) so I can make it work. Long-stays make for another (more difficult) solution. 

[Huma0]

@Gordon0 

Exactly. The problem is that Airbnb has applied a blanket policy for everyone. While I can see it being do-able in entire listings, it just doesn't make sense in shared ones. Even if you took away kitchen access (and that to other communal areas such as living rooms), you would need a private bathroom and private entrance/stairway for each guest, because if you can't re-enter a  space after it's been sanitised for the next guest, that means neither you nor other guests (if you host more than one) can enter the same space without going through the whole process again, which is of course completely impossible.

I actually don't have a problem with signing up to the 5 step process when it comes to prepping the bedrooms or cleaning them again if the guests opt in for that service, although the part about not re-entering a space after sanitising but resetting the room after you do (not sure how one can reset without entering?) is completely illogical. My issue is much more to do with the mask wearing.

I don't currently have any Airbnb guests and also no upcoming ones booked in, but this is going to be a major issue. I have asked a couple of my recent guests what they thought about the new protocol. They were shocked by it and thought it was nonsense for us all to have to wear masks inside (and these are intelligent, sensible and responsible people).

[Helen3]

Hello @Danielle732 

I raised this issue about 10 days ago in a post currently above yours.

according to the new cleaning policy if you share space you all have to wear masks whenever you are in that space. 

as @Gordon0  says if you are able to operate without giving guests access to your kitchen/dining space that’s  probably the way to go.

I can’t as I have an open plan kitchen/dining/living space  which is where access to the garden also is. 

[Danielle732]

Thank you for this reply! This was helpful advice. How do you plan to go about wearing a mask while eating? I mean restaurants require masks except for eating. Around here, we wear masks into a restaurant and while ordering but when food arrives, we can take it off. I wonder if something similar would apply here.

[Helen3]

As I said not giving your guests access to the kitchen/dining room is the way to go if these are separate spaces in your house.

If you can do this then it won’t be an issue for you @Danielle732 

[Helen427]

Hello @Danielle732 and welcome to ABB CC from over the yonder in New Zealand.

Perhaps @Brian can answer those questions for us all, he's the CEO of ABB!!!