COVID-19 paralyzed the world and changed our lives drastically within a matter of months. As our state slowly moves towards a new “normal”, each one of us has a different emotional response. Some feel like they can finally breathe and start living again, while others feel like everything is opening up too fast and are not ready for any kind of normal yet. We need to realize that both of these emotional responses are valid. Every person is unique in their ability to tolerate risk, each person is in a different place when it comes to their physical and financial health, family and community support and philosophy on how to live life. We owe it to each other to respect these differences and treat each other with kindness as we all figure out how to move forward.
As we reopen our state, we should keep in mind that our precious community is somewhat different when it comes to risk of hospitalization and death from the virus. Our median age is 65 years, almost twice that of the state, which is 34 years! So what is prudent for the rest of the state may not be so for us. Our older population with more underlying medical conditions would still have to be more cautious than the average population. Continuing to wash hands frequently is a given. Social distancing with people from other households and wearing cloth masks where social distancing is not possible are both crucial to minimize risk, especially in high risk folks.
Here are some other tips to help you reduce your risk while still enjoying your favorite activities:
Gatherings of smaller groups are always lower risk than larger groups.
Try to break up group activities into more sessions with smaller groups.
Go out to dinner or the park in smaller groups.
Meet at large restaurants where you can get larger tables for smaller groups so people can sit further apart.
Outdoors is always lower risk than indoors.
Try to move your favorite indoor group activities outdoors if at all possible. This may be difficult in the heat of the summer, but maybe it will be more feasible in the fall.
Practice social distancing even when you are outdoors by picking the largest possible space for your event.
Exercise outdoors when possible. You have to be careful in the summer heat that you don’t get dehydrated or suffer from heat exhaustion. If you can work out indoors at home in the summer, that would be perfect. But if you do have to go to the gym, try to find times when it will be least crowded.
Children are at the lowest risk of complications and death from the virus. This should be comforting to parents. But they should be aware that children can potentially transmit the virus to grandparents and other older folk who may be at a higher risk. It is challenging to teach little ones to social distance and each family will have to decide how far they’re willing to go to maintain that distance with older relatives. There is again no right or wrong answer, just a different one for each family.
Some of us may need to realize that things are not quite normal yet and maybe need to curtail some of our usual activities a bit, some of us may need a little more time to come out of our homes and some of us may not be ready to leave home at all for a long time yet because we feel we are at too high a risk due to our age or our medical problems. Let us all give each other the time and kindness to move towards our new “normal” at our own pace.