Things are starting to open up, but the coronavirus hasn’t gone away. That means that each of has to decide where to draw the line between reducing the risk of being infected vs. reclaiming our lives.
This morning my wife went to get her hair cut. Her hairdresser is also a friend, and even though his shop is closed, he was willing to cut her hair. He’ll wear gloves, they’ll both wear masks, but assuming he is also cutting other people’s hair, he’s interacting with more people over the course of a week than Jennifer or I are, so his chances of being infected and therefore contagious are greater.
But of course none of us are eliminating all risk of being infected; we’re only reducing it. I still go grocery shopping every 8 or 9 days, and today I’m going with my mother to a doctor’s appointment. (She has trouble hearing so I sometimes need to intermediate in her conversations with health care providers.)
In short we’re all making a judgement call about where to draw the line between the risk of infection and quality of life. I suppose everyone feels that the point at which they draw that line is reasonable and defensible regardless of where they draw it. I predicted early on that the epidemic was going to outlast many people’s patience for being isolated. That already appears to be the case. The question is what the consequences will be. It seems inevitable that there will at least be localized flare-ups, but epidemiologists also worry about a full-blown second wave.
My brother-in-law notes that there has been discussion in the media about the idea of people expanding their “bubbles” — cautiously adding one or more other individuals or families to their trusted circle of fellow quarantiners. As a public health strategy that seems sound to me. As the epidemiologists have said repeatedly, the epidemic will last until there’s a vaccine or until so many people have gotten the virus that we enjoy herd immunity. But we are a long way from either of those happening — a year or two if not more — and there’s no way that everyone who has been sheltering at home for the last 9 or 10 weeks could tolerate that condition for that much longer. The murder rate could end up surpassing the Covid-19 death rate. (OK, not really, but it would be dire.) We will need to find ways to open up our circles of associates to include additional people — your teenage daughter’s best friend and her parents, for example — in a way that makes life more livable without dramatically increasing the risk of infection.
What I don’t see in my own near future is going to movies or concerts, or even having a meal in a restaurant. Spending time with a handful of other people who I’m confident are being as careful as I am is one thing; mingling with a few hundred strangers for an hour or two is in another risk category entirely.
Greg and I talk about this all the time. Each of has to choose what level of interaction feels safe at a particular time, plus we have to learn to accommodate the choices everyone around us is making. I find it so exhausting.