200423 covid group scout

april 23

a covid group (def.): the people of a household who share the common spaces and meals and social interaction in a physical unit such as a house. the group is protected by the protocols it demands and the mutual agreement and compliance to these. in our household group of 6, or 7, with the dog, we accept the demands of the most conservative of us. the dog is worried: he follows me around because everything is different, but he doesn't do human protocols. it is k who is the most conservative in this matter, so: deliveries and pick-ups are quarantined for 3 days. hands, doorknobs, the car doors, even the dog leash, are cleaned often. the fewer members going out in the world the better, so those with jobs outside the home will have priority and one of these only should be assigned to errands. we no longer have anyone working outside the home so we have assigned one gofer, to go on all errands.

  i have thought about the possibility of wanting or needing a person to move in, and therefore into the covid group but a person coming to our house would have to self-isolate and we would also need to run checks to protect the incoming person. they would have to agree not to leave the house except for walks and exercise and to abide by the rules of the most conservative etc.

  and i wonder - is this what parents are doing for their unmarried-but-in-a-serious-relationship adult children - "moving their partner in"? i think it's what i'd do. or if i was the adult child i would push for it. but if they want to go out to work: no. that's possibly bringing home captain covid every day. it doubles the risk of contamination. and you might know a senior or a friend who, while coming at extra risk, might benefit from the larger social circle and the laid-on meals and care.

i have become the gofer or "scout" of our covid group. this role evolved because i was the last one in the house going out daily to a sort of job. i was attending my mother-in-law who lived in a seniors' residence. i went to be with her for a few hours, five days a week, after her family (and i) moved her to an assisted-care facility. that was in january of this year: 2020. it seems a world away now.

[i said, when the new year began, that it couldn't be real: that 2020 was a year in a science fiction book, not in our lifetime!] 

[i knew in 2016 that trump was dangerous: before he was elected i was afraid of his winning. perhaps that's where the "future" started. when the simpsons' prediction of a cartoon president...]

where was i? 

yes - the scout. since i was already out there, i ran the few errands that still existed as february segued into march: a car repair, gas station, some food and supply shopping. then things began to close. my car place (the best in the world and just down the road.) was using gloves and hand sanitizer when i took my car in. when i returned for my car they had decided to close for 10 days. this was the week after the WHO declared a pandemic, when everything tumbled.

after the shutdowns, and after the residence started screening and stopped allowing visitors, i continued to go to cameron's five days a week, because i was considered part of her essential care. (my constancy was rewarded.) i was able to be with her for another three weeks, and so continued to be the only one going out.

when the residence became infiltrated by the coronavirus, i had to stop going. but i have continued my role as the the scout who goes out. i suppose the fact that i know where most things are, also points to my being the one who goes out.

so that's become accepted protocol. i record all errands on the hall dry-erase calendar, and the packages are dated. and i wash my hands again.

please share about your covid group.