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Hey friends- I'm posting this in case it might be of any help to people who're isolating with other people during this pandemic. Something that I've had to learn the hard way is that it's really easy to assume that what you consider safe behavior is what everyone you trust is doing, but if you don't actually communicate what you consider to be safe behavior- you may find out that the other person has very different ideas about it.
I'm in isolation with my husband Eric because I live with him. He is dating his girlfriend, who lives with her husband, and Eric visits them regularly. I am dating Joel, who visits our home regularly. So I've taken to thinking of us as an isolation pod (and calling it "Jortles Pod" informally). We recently added a friend to the pod who lives by himself and who we've decided is trustworthy and has good communication skills.
That's six people, and we don't all communicate with each other directly, so we've decided to come up with a safety plan that's in Google Docs that everyone has access to, and can edit. It's not a binding legal contract, but simply a codification of what we're all already doing to be safe, so that everyone is on the same page. That way, ideally we head off someone behaving in what the others would see as an unsafe manner because they assumed that what they did was safe.
I'm going to paste it here in case anyone else likes this idea, and would like an example or starting point of such a thing. Feel free to share this with anyone who could benefit from it.
*************************
This is what we came up with in a discussion among [a subset of the group]. If you have concerns or suggestions, feel free to make edits to the document, which we can all discuss. If it’s good as-is, feel free to mark your X
COVID-19 Pandemic Safety Plan for Jortles Pod
[list of names of everyone in the group, and blanks by their names to add an x to indicate agreement]
Anything more than cursory contact with an outside person needs to be communicated to everyone in the group. Ideally communication of this information will occur before the contact with outside persons but it should absolutely occur prior to subsequent contact with Jortles Pod or their homes/vehicles. Cursory contact would include picking up food from a restaurant, having food delivered, or doing a curbside pickup at a store.
Potentially Risky Contact (PRC) is any activity that cannot meet at least two of the following criteria:
* Occurs outside
* Masks are worn by Jortles Pod members, ideally by everyone involved
* 6 foot social distancing guidelines is consistently observed (physical barriers such as plastic shields at the pharmacy can substitute in some cases)
Grocery shopping should not be done in person unless unavoidable. No one should be shopping in the traditional sense of going in and walking around unless there is no other option.
Even when contact is cursory, every attempt should be made to wash hands and disinfect anything that might have come in contact with an outside person. Follow your established food/grocery regimen.
Adding people to the group: As was done with [the friend recently added], we got someone in the group tested to verify the group was not infected. Then we asked [friend] to remain separate for 14 days from the time of his last sustained contact with others outside the group. Adding someone new to the pod requires discussion among the existing members of the group prior to the addition
Examples of PRC:
Eating at a sit-down restaurant, especially if it is indoors
Protesting in a large group
Getting a haircut at a salon
Getting a tattoo
Shopping indoors
I'm in isolation with my husband Eric because I live with him. He is dating his girlfriend, who lives with her husband, and Eric visits them regularly. I am dating Joel, who visits our home regularly. So I've taken to thinking of us as an isolation pod (and calling it "Jortles Pod" informally). We recently added a friend to the pod who lives by himself and who we've decided is trustworthy and has good communication skills.
That's six people, and we don't all communicate with each other directly, so we've decided to come up with a safety plan that's in Google Docs that everyone has access to, and can edit. It's not a binding legal contract, but simply a codification of what we're all already doing to be safe, so that everyone is on the same page. That way, ideally we head off someone behaving in what the others would see as an unsafe manner because they assumed that what they did was safe.
I'm going to paste it here in case anyone else likes this idea, and would like an example or starting point of such a thing. Feel free to share this with anyone who could benefit from it.
*************************
This is what we came up with in a discussion among [a subset of the group]. If you have concerns or suggestions, feel free to make edits to the document, which we can all discuss. If it’s good as-is, feel free to mark your X
COVID-19 Pandemic Safety Plan for Jortles Pod
[list of names of everyone in the group, and blanks by their names to add an x to indicate agreement]
Anything more than cursory contact with an outside person needs to be communicated to everyone in the group. Ideally communication of this information will occur before the contact with outside persons but it should absolutely occur prior to subsequent contact with Jortles Pod or their homes/vehicles. Cursory contact would include picking up food from a restaurant, having food delivered, or doing a curbside pickup at a store.
Potentially Risky Contact (PRC) is any activity that cannot meet at least two of the following criteria:
* Occurs outside
* Masks are worn by Jortles Pod members, ideally by everyone involved
* 6 foot social distancing guidelines is consistently observed (physical barriers such as plastic shields at the pharmacy can substitute in some cases)
Grocery shopping should not be done in person unless unavoidable. No one should be shopping in the traditional sense of going in and walking around unless there is no other option.
Even when contact is cursory, every attempt should be made to wash hands and disinfect anything that might have come in contact with an outside person. Follow your established food/grocery regimen.
Adding people to the group: As was done with [the friend recently added], we got someone in the group tested to verify the group was not infected. Then we asked [friend] to remain separate for 14 days from the time of his last sustained contact with others outside the group. Adding someone new to the pod requires discussion among the existing members of the group prior to the addition
Examples of PRC:
Eating at a sit-down restaurant, especially if it is indoors
Protesting in a large group
Getting a haircut at a salon
Getting a tattoo
Shopping indoors
no subject
Date: Jun. 5th, 2020 03:02 pm (UTC)From:It stresses me out. I've found the only way to cope with it is to go in the 7-8am hour when it is largely empty and everyone's wearing a mask. But also this is pretty much the only time I've left my house in months, aside from getting blood work done. So I don't know. I don't know if this is acceptable risk or not.
no subject
Date: Jun. 5th, 2020 03:08 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Jun. 5th, 2020 06:38 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Jun. 5th, 2020 08:39 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: Jun. 6th, 2020 05:40 pm (UTC)From:We haven't opened up past our household for anything past only adult backyard socially distant social-ing, a couple of times. Sitting in chairs very far apart, 15+ feet, no indoor bathroom access.
We've hit a new summer hurdle because parents are trying to create "pods" so their kids can socialize. Which I get the desire to do, but holy crap, they have no idea how to go about it.
And then the politics that go on when you try to point out holes in it aren't pretty.
We've got one friend of Lib's whose family considers themselves isolated in that they haven't allowed the kids any social contact until now, and they don't go out to eat, and they do curbside for groceries, etc.
But the dad works as a manager at a bar.
And another whose family has been isolated except each kid has only been allowed to have one friend with whom they can socialize until this point. And there are 4 kids. And I have no idea how many kids each of the kids' friends can see.
The parents don't see the reach of contacts until I point it out, and then they're annoyed with me.
Sigh. So, my kids are still isolated, but Lib is getting increasingly antsy because all their friends are getting to see people in person. :(
no subject
Date: Jun. 6th, 2020 06:08 pm (UTC)From: