ST Alpha - "I need an ST Sanity Check: are my COVID protocols excessive or is my limited group just acting irresponsibly?" (Reading a Post)

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I need an ST Sanity Check: are my COVID protocols excessive or is my limited group just acting irresponsibly?

Posted by colin (aka colinski) Sep 8 '20, 07:20

let me be clear: this is not in judgement of anything anybody else is doing. we have the ability to set certain standards and are choosing to do so, but we feel increasingly like we're being unreasonable, despite rises in cases, deaths, etc esp with college kids pouring back into town.

this comes up because we were at a friend's house to do yard hang out. he lives with his grandmother who is supposedly immunocompromised. he has family in town for the weekend. his girlfriend works in retail and basically lives at his house. some more friends come over, not wearing masks, go into the house to get food and use the bathroom. we feel like crazy people wearing masks, peeing outside, while everybody else is acting as though there's no difference in life at all.

we avoid going into any stores but grocery and the occasional beer store. most grocery is curbside, same with any take out food. we avoid going into a business if we have to, hand sanitize, mask up, hand sanitize when we get out if we need to go in. anything that comes into our house goes either into a quarantine area (like mail and dry foods) for 3 days or longer or is wiped down with bleach and into the fridge.

we do not let anybody into our house. we hang out with people outside masks off, but 12 feet or more apart. if we share food, it goes hot from a pan into a clean container that can be closed and then cleaned by whoever we're giving it to. we don't physically touch anybody if it can be helped at all.

we are not traveling. when we go on drives, we don't stop anywhere that isn't outdoors, we don't pee in public restrooms (lots of outdoor peeing seeing people and going on drives...).

my partner's parents want to come visit. they take zero precautions, usually stop at her sister's place who is near a marine base, married to a marine, they think this is a joke. we told them they can come get a hotel, hang out on the porch like everybody else. they're pretty upset about that, but they take no precautions, don't wear masks, partner's dad goes into an office every day with people etc.

the only exception was a friend dying suddenly this summer and his ex-wife asking us if we could come to the celebration of life to support her. we had been quarantined for 2 weeks before then, drove down, limited contact, got back, got tested, stayed quarantined until we got negative test results back .. no leaving the house, people bringing us groceries etc.

we obviously have been protesting and that's its own risk. i know we take risks.. we don't have to go to a beer store, we don't have to get take out, we could get groceries delivered, we don't have to do volunteer work... but i don't know how people are piling into bars, hanging out without masks or social distancing, going into each others houses, not having any kind of COVID bubble group...

might be a long ramble, but we aren't in contact with a ton of people... all of my family has just abandoned the idea of being safe if they were ever doing anything to begin with and friends are hanging out inside each other's houses.

Responses:

I'm always glad to see these types of posts - because people on ST are doing the right things - and STrs are in the middle of groups/lives NOT doing - Epiphany -Puppers Beer Connoisseur Sep 8, 08:00 1
- thanks for that.. yeah, we're part of a small group that is just not doing anything any more and its good to have perspective. -- nm - colin Sep 8, 08:03
I live alone so can't compare. No one enters my place except maintenance when I'm out. The no-mask folks in your circle are insane. -- nm - loosilu Sep 8, 07:53
We have a JCPennys going out of business which I have entered twice. I feel quite dirty, but I am probably going again today as they have hit 70% off. -- (edited) - Wakanda Forever Sep 8, 07:48
I don't get the 3 day quarantining/bleaching of foods & goods thing -- nm - mud Sep 8, 07:46 4
- just in case there was a spreader in the store. virus can live on surfaces for a bit. also, i think we're just of the mind that stuff sitting out at - colin Sep 8, 08:02 3
  - If I was going to worry about that, I'd get a UV wand. Nothing lives through UV. -- nm - Reagen Sep 8, 08:06
  - Keep doing what you're comfortable with. I've seen enough information that spread via contact on items is minimal so I've grown comfortable with that -- nm - oblique Sep 8, 08:03
  - I think I read Fauci say he lets stuff he brought in sit for 24 hours -- nm - ty97 Sep 8, 08:03
I've been riding the bus lately. I don't have to, but I just want to go around the city and not feel so locked into my area. - ty97 Sep 8, 07:37 6
- if everybody wore a mask, i'd be way more okay with "normal" activities.. but we're a very conservative area, a lot of trump signs and aggressively - colin Sep 8, 08:06 3
  - Universal masks in April and this whole business is long over. -- nm - Reagen Sep 8, 08:07 2
    - This. Shutting down for 30 days and masks for everyone would have likely got us back to mostly normal by now. -- nm - Krusty Sep 8, 08:15
    - right? we could be DONE by now, but instead it's the same old. -- nm - colin Sep 8, 08:10
- This. -- nm - loosilu Sep 8, 07:52
- " don't negotiate what you are comfortable with. " this 100% -- nm - Epiphany -Puppers Beer Connoisseur Sep 8, 07:51
I'll contrast you with my own experience - oblique Sep 8, 07:35
you're doing about what I'd be doing if I were in America. -- nm - mafic Sep 8, 07:29
More people need to act like you are. -- nm - Andie Sep 8, 07:24 6
- I agree. (We should as well, but I recognize we are a little lax.) -- nm - JaxSean Sep 8, 07:28 3
  - although I think it also depends on where you are and the positivity rate for your area -- nm - decline Sep 8, 07:30 2
    - Where is Jax again? -- nm - loosilu Sep 8, 07:52 1
      - Ground zero. -- nm - Wakanda Forever Sep 8, 08:11
- this -- nm - Beaker Sep 8, 07:27
- thank you. -- nm - colin Sep 8, 07:25
This is just as much about mental health as physical health. If it makes you feel better/safer, do whatever you need to do. - Volnelk Sep 8, 07:23 12
- I totally agree. I'm not wiping down my groceries with bleach and am willing to pee inside at like gas stations and will totally go to like, lowe's - amanda Sep 8, 07:46 8
  - and it is a balancing act of what's statistically likely to get you sick.. i'm less likely to get it from random brief interactions than large groups - colin Sep 8, 08:04
  - I was willing to pee at gas stations until the CG medical chief says she doesn't. It's a tiny enclosed public space. -- nm - loosilu Sep 8, 07:54
  - I'm basically the same as you. I stopped wiping everything down a few weeks ago but I continue to wash my hands very often. The only stores I go to - Krusty Sep 8, 07:50 4
    - yeah, only food stores for us. i know the wiping may be excessive, but it's just become habit. -- nm - colin Sep 8, 08:00 3
      - I did it from March until a few weeks ago. Things are really good here and I'd read enough reports about it not living long or being much of a concern - Krusty Sep 8, 08:08
      - it certainly isn't hurting anything. -- nm - Andie Sep 8, 08:05 1
        
        Yup -- nm - Krusty Sep 8, 08:13
  - I don't wipe anything down. I wash my hands after handling. I am seeing a couple friends outside this week. Their kids go back to school - Andie Sep 8, 07:49
- For sure. My wife and I were out walking (no masks) last night. A group of about 10 HS/college aged kids were messing around in the street between two houses ( -- (edited) - oblique Sep 8, 07:39 1
  - I feel very lucky that people seem to be very good about it where I live. -- nm - loosilu Sep 8, 07:58
- that's what we talked about.. this is how i feel okay and safe. i REALLY don't want to get COVID and we both WFH, so why not. -- nm - colin Sep 8, 07:25

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I need an ST Sanity Check: are my COVID protocols excessive or is my limited group just acting irresponsibly?

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