Have You Changed Your Personal Rules For Physical Distancing?

As we reach the seventh or eighth or ninth week of whatever the hell this is we’re going through, we are all in much different places than where we started (even as we all stay forever in the same place). On the one hand, physical distancing has gotten a bit easier to practice with familiarity: Most of us are taking things seriously, more people are wearing masks and curbside pickup is fast becoming de rigueur. On the other hand, though, we are all getting antsy to go outside, or maybe visit just that one friend.

I’m hearing about people deciding it’s ok to visit a friend who has also been scrupulously distancing… but if that friend has visited others they consider low risk, and those friends have visited yet others, it doesn’t take long before you realise none of you are really following the rules.

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Another question on many of our minds is when it’s ok to go to the park or beach. In some ways, an outdoor space may be one of the less risky places to go: If you can stay six feet apart from other people or groups, and if everyone wears masks on the way there, it may not be that bad. But we’ve also seen the footage of beaches and parks just packed with crowds.

cont’d

— Social distancing *is* possible at beaches, golf, etc.

— Sunlight (UV) helps

— People need to auger their own tolerance for risk

— Good-faith advice: Don’t go to the beach w/ symptoms, or if immuno-comprimised, or if elderly

— *Individuals* are the line of defense.

— Andrew Noymer (@AndrewNoymer) April 28, 2020

So I’m curious to know how you’re handling this, readers: How have you changed your own personal rules around risk? Have you gotten more cautious, or less? Have you changed your mind about which risks are worth taking?