As the virus drags on, are you relaxing your own standards?

[belleatdisney]

This week I went into a store for the first time in about 9 weeks. I was doing exclusively curb side and delivery.

I only went in for unexpectedly needed supplies which wouldn’t get here for 3 days and I needed them immediately. I went at opening and I was the only customer. I wore a mask. I was in and out very quickly.

I still quarantine items whenever possible upon arrival at home. I have never lysoled my groceries but do wipe down bottles.

I have no desire to do regular shopping or go into restaurants or salons.

My plan has been to keep doing what I have been doing and watch for spikes.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

All along my biggest worry has been that I accidentally kill a loved one. I can't live with that thought. Or if they don't die, they have to deal with the awful awful effects of having Covid 19....they survive, but it's traumatic.

I don't think there is a person who actually wants this

The question internally for many is how long will you stay away for a virus that isn't necessarily going to go away? It's a question I have in my mind all the time and it's actually driving anxiety for me in terms of this visual and mental requirement in my mind to stay at least 6 feet from my family and I hate it (I've mentioned it on another thread).

For individuals who utilize the vaccine route it may not be 100% effective (not all vaccines work that way), it may take a long time to get a reliable one, if we get a reliable one with billions of people on the planet distribution is the stuff of nightmares. Even with the US pre-holding if you will (can't think of a better term) 300 million (last I heard) of one possible vaccine it will still take a long time to get to people. That's me trying to be realistic in my thinking.

And for the thought process you mention an effective treatment isn't a substitute.

I do think it's important for the family to be on the same page at this point. If everyone is willing to wait for however long it takes to be in close contact that's the answer then. If people are ready to be close again that's the answer.

I'm the hold out in my family. To them they don't want to get it, they don't want to die either, none of us want it, but they don't want to either live the way we are for years or indefinitely either. So I still need time and my family including my in-laws respect that. And before someone says something about "can't do that if they are dead either" and whatnot humans are more complex than that in their thinking.

 

[Meglen]

When all this started my husband who works in a pharmacy would come home shower bag his clothes and wash them asap. Now we are jsut acting as normal. We are wearing masks washing hands and being safe but I just want freak out every time he walks in anymore.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

This is how I never wanted to get. I never wanted to get to the point of being afraid of human interaction. I didn’t want to make that normal for my household.

People have started returning to work (I’ve been here the entire time) and some are very jumpy and treating everyone like they have the plague. One girl was on the elevator with me and was trying to hit buttons to open doors with her feet. There are signs everywhere to use your elbow but she was in panic mode.

I try to keep my distance but am not on the level I've personally seen in reactions out and about (or heard stories about here) but I too understand what you mean about this vibe that exists now at times; we've turned our mostly social society on its head.

 

[Mango7100]

This is how I never wanted to get. I never wanted to get to the point of being afraid of human interaction. I didn’t want to make that normal for my household.

People have started returning to work (I’ve been here the entire time) and some are very jumpy and treating everyone like they have the plague. One girl was on the elevator with me and was trying to hit buttons to open doors with her feet. There are signs everywhere to use your elbow but she was in panic mode.

It’s difficult because my husband was born with a heart condition and has numerous procedures/ is on meds for it He is considered high risk even being in his early 40s. The stress of trying to protect him but also balance my child’s needs for socialization as well as our own needs as adults to socialize is taxing...I don’t want to feel that way, believe me

 

[jrsharp21]

I've had cabin fever from about 2 weeks after the shut down began. This is what we currently do & don't do:

We currently do:

• wash hands before eating
• wash hands after coming back into the house from outside. Even if it's from getting the mail.
• wear masks when at Costco because they require it and you can't enter the store without one.
• use hand sanitizer in between stuff like touching a grocery cart and entering the car.
• use hand sanitizer before eating when dining in at a restaurant.
• both DH & I work from home 75-90% of the time. When DH goes into the office, he wears a mask.
• eat out IN a restaurant now about once a week.
• get take out once or twice a week (drive through fast food falls into this category)
• make plans for future travel. We're going to San Diego at the end of the month for 4 days to spend time with relatives. Will be staying in a hotel and basically hanging out the entire time at their house other than sleeping.
• make plans for visiting Disneyland this Thanksgiving. I've got hotel reservations booked. I am NOT worried one bit about this. I am confident that Disney is putting solid plans in place based on what I see in the WDW announcements.
• visit w/my sister every other week. She hugs my kids & they hug back. We do not stay 6' apart from each other. She joined us at Olive Garden yesterday to help us celebrate YDD's birthday.
• had my MIL stay with us for 2 nights over Memorial Day weekend. Just stayed home and didn't go anywhere. We didn't social distance from her. She's old, in a vulnerable population category, but got sick and tired of being at home alone for over 2 months and was desperate for real in person conversation. None of us regret doing this.
• been to Michael's a few times, Target once, Pier One last weekend because they're having a going out of business sale, Walmart a couple of times, 4-5 times to my favorite plant nursery (VERY easy to social distance there). By far, Target was the busiest and the most annoying because of that.
• DH has met a couple of friends at a restaurant a couple of times since dine-in started about 3 weeks ago.
• spend a lot of time outside (vitamin D!).

We do not:

• wipe down every grocery item with sanitizing wipes
• wipe down every piece of mail
• put non-perishable groceries in the garage for any length of time to disinfect them
• eat all meals at home
• wear masks every time we are at our local grocery store
• wear masks when walking outside
• let the kids hang out yet with their friends
• wear gloves
• disinfect all surfaces & door handles at home daily. This happens once a week.
• fear what will happen when our kids return to school in person in the fall. Our kids' school has a good handle on the situation, communicates well, and we're confident that they'll make wise and informed decisions on how to handle things in an ever-changing situation.
• fear anymore about what will happen to our elderly relatives all of whom have health problems. There's nothing we can really do about it. We've accepted that at SOME point, EACH of them WILL die....of SOMETHING. Each of them is elderly, so every day is basically a gift. We, and they, do what we can to try to protect them from getting exposed to pathogens while also respecting their wishes to spend time with other people in person occasionally.

Corona virus is not going away. It's here to stay. Eventually, we will ALL get it. I'm not afraid of dying every time we leave the house. I'm not consumed with anxiety and fear. I'm pretty much in the acceptance phase, I suppose.

This is very similar to what we are/are not doing. In our family of four, I am the worry wart. So when this all started I made the family lock down. I made my daughter take a furlough from her two restaurant jobs. The only places anyone was going was outside for runs or walks around the neighborhood for exercise. I was wiping down all groceries that were delivered. Boxes from Amazon were being picked up with gloves and then left out in the garage for several days before they were broken down. All those precautions that were suggested in the beginning. I was fortunate enough to work from home. My wife, who is a hair stylist, was shut down. As things started to open up, my anxiety got really bad. But about 3 weeks ago, work asked for a small portion of us to start coming back in. The weekend before I made myself make a Target run to see what everything was looking like. Being back to work and going to Target that day helped out so much.

My kids, and my wife now also, do think I am OCD and crazy because of the amount of hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes we have. But it's all being put to use. I wash my hands or put on hand sanitizer anytime I go outside, touch a door nob that others may have touched, picked up packages, putting away groceries, etc. I also wipe down the counters very well anytime something from the outside comes in and is placed on a table or counter. I am also constantly reminding the kids to wash their hands before they eat and to stop touching their face.

Sports have started back up in our area. My son's baseball season is back into full gear. So we are back to seeing other families and my son interacting with other players. We try to keep our distance when possible. We remind my son to keep his distance when he is in the dugout and constantly wash his hands or use hand sanitizer each inning he gets back into the dugout. I have even bought us a portable hand washing station that we throw in the back of the truck and can wash our hands if we are eating between games or stopping to get something on the way home. My daughter has gone back to work at both jobs. When we started to ease up on things, her and her boyfriend would do social distance dates outside. Lawn chairs on the driveway spread out and I would set up a tv for them outside to watch some movies. They are now kind of back to hanging out normally. She has about 3 other really close friends that she also works with that she has been hanging out with for a few weeks now. My son has a couple of baseball friends who live nearby and they have been going to the park in the afternoons and shooting hoops. My wife has finally been given the green light to go back to work. Unfortunately where she has her salon is back where we used to live and has to fly back. At first this made me really nervous, but I have talked to some people who had to fly recently and they have said it was not really scary at all. They were distanced very well in the plane and everyone had their mask on the whole time for the most part. Even with that, I got some upgraded masks for my wife to wear on the plane. Knowing that N95 masks are scarce still and hospital staff need them, I went to the next best thing of a KN95 mask. Makes me feel a little safer that she has a little more protection than a standard cloth mask.

My wife and son have eaten in a restaurant. Obviously my daughter has been in them for work. I am still a little hesitant about eating inside. I did eat at my first restaurant since the shut down. Went and sat outside on the patio with my wife and son at a new place that recently opened up. That was very enjoyable. But I still had some OCD tendencies while eating. It will be a bit before those are all gone.

We are supposed to go to Florida mid July for two baseball events. The original plan was to fly, rent a car, and go to WDW on the 2 day break we had between the two events. But I don't think I am ready for the whole family to jump on a plane. So I think we will make the drive from Texas to Sanford, FL. We haven't made a decision about WDW yet. All signs are pointing towards no. Having to wear a mask in that heat sounds miserable. Wearing a mask in our work parking garage is bad enough. I can't imagine having to do that all day in the heat. And my daughter said it will be so gloomy seeing people in masks there and not people smiling and laughing. So we may end up just driving to West Palm Beach, FL for the second event and spending the day at the beach.

But as someone who was really scared in the beginning, life has started to take on some normalcy. We just got put into Phase III today so now mostly everything is open and restaurants are up to 75% capacity now. Definitely getting away from all of the tv and social media doom and gloom helped out also. There is a radio show from my old home city that I still listen to. The host has been very good in putting all the statistics and news into usable information, not just newspaper headings or click bait like the rest of the media likes to do. That has been a breath of fresh air when helping with these decisions to get life going again.

 

[lovemygoofy]

We are loosening up but being thoughtful about our moves if this makes sense.
We ate our first meal out first weekend in May for brunch out on a patio and this past weekend one my favorite Mexican places again on the patio. We also did social gathering at local brewery outside playing lawn games and visiting but not super close to each other and the tables spread apart. Some wore masks, some didn't. I wear my masks in the grocery stores, which I don't go in often and never at busy time to shop. Normally I'd host a big ladies night sometime this month but instead hosting two different nights few weeks apart to reduce extra exposures.

I still haven't went to get my hair or toes done and I'm not ready to eat inside restaurant yet. No crazy way am I going to theme park. I wouldn't go in summer anyways let alone now. We will at some point go visit my mom in a nursing home when they open back up. At least two weeks before that happens, we will be isolating to ensure we aren't infected or sharing anything and of course wearing a masks when seeing her. The same will be done for visiting my MIL or husband's grandmother.

At first this thing was nerve wracking and yes 100,000+ people deaths in about 3-4 months is lot of people but we also have to think about the amount of people that have recovered and back to their lives. Something the governor and team has been doing here in Indiana is talking about the numbers of people hospitalized over the time and amount of people in hospital or in ICU or on ventilators and really trying to show that we have to be careful using appropriate measures such hand washing, trying to keep some distance from others and watching how we cough/sneeze if not going to wear a mask. I think taking small steps to feel better will help feel better trying to start opening back up some even something small like take out.

 

[Skippy918]

I’m trying to figure out where I stand on this next phase of reopening. The original reasons why we shut down was to flatten the curve, reduce strain on hospitals etc and we seem to have achieved that for the most part so I should relax but now I feel even more cautious for some reason. My teens have been great about distancing in small groups but the more things are getting relaxed the more kids are getting together and the groups are getting larger. They have been my biggest challenge in finding a balance in all this. I guess I’m just feeling more pressure to relax things but not feeling that it’s safe to do so. At this point I’m doing more but with more sanitizer, hand washing and masks than when this started.

Yes, it seems like we went from let’s stay home to flatten the curve and it feels like it’s transitioned to let’s stay home to avoid getting sick.
My kids haven’t seen any friends since March. I don’t know when we’ll feel comfortable allowing them to see friends for play dates.
Our pool is opening this weekend but they want people to keep their distance in the pool so if my kids run into a friend at the pool it’s going to be hard to not play with them. They’re not allowing toys either.
Our family unit is not immune compromised and we don’t have extended family near us.

 

[Christine]

I haven't changed too much. Still mostly staying home (not much to do in Phase 1). I go to the grocery store twice a week (no change). I sanitize when I get out of the store. I'm always masked. Last week when some of our retail opened, I went to Steinmart. There were only 3 shoppers in the store and I felt okay.

I no longer come in the house and take off my shopping clothes. I never believed that was an issue even though I did it, but I'm done with it how.

My employer is discussing us now coming back in phased approaches starting in about 2 weeks. Considering my building has 4,000 people in it, I'm very nervous.

 

[disykat]

My husband goes back to work in his office next week. We're still home, only going out for grocery shopping every ten days or so, and to go to the PO box weekly. We go for walks. The only thing I have changed is I've now had a few socially distant meet ups outside with close friends. This week my area entered the first phase of recovery and I'm a on waiting list for the dog groomer. I can wait for a haircut, but my dog needs her nails clipped desperately. (we managed the front paws, but haven't accomplished the back.)

I'm about to make my second trip to take care of things for my parents. I'll still be just as careful when stopping for gas and fast food, etc. on the drive. I still probably won't be allowed to see them, but I'm still being extra vigilant just in case. Hoping I can socially distant visit with my mom briefly outside. The first trip was weirdly free of traffic, (I pass through three cities that normally have backups) but I'm guessing there will be more this trip. Their state is a few weeks ahead of mine as far as opening phases go, but still under a lot of restrictions.

I miss when states used to be listed on your posts. My guess is that some of us are in areas still very much closed and others are in areas that have opened up.

 

[DisneyLover83]

I have been back at the office since May 11th. My daughter started summer camp Monday. They changed the name to summer daycare but its really all the same. They just don't take field trips.
We wear masks if its required. Otherwise we are living life like pre-covid.
We wash our hands regularly, cover our coughs and sneezes, sanitize if hand washing is unavailable.
We go out to eat in restaurants, we've been to two zoos, we've all gotten haircuts, daughter has been to the dentist for a cleaning, went on a vacation to the beach over Memorial Day....
I guess we are risk takers

 

[Farro]

My 81 year old dad just called - their favorite breakfast spot set up a big canopy outside for eating and he made us all breakfast reservations for 10:30 Saturday morning!!!

I can't wait to see my parents and go out to breakfast!!!

 

[VandVsmama]

You can probably now put me in the category of "yes, we've loosened our standards" because I just booked a hotel in Anaheim for Labor Day weekend and we're going to be going to Disneyland.

I don't care if we have to wear masks the entire time.
I don't care if we only get to go on a few rides.
I don't care if it's a hassle.
Yes, we'll follow all of the Disney recommended guidelines and requirements of guests.
We'll sanitize the hell out of our hands all day.
I'll sanitize the chairs and tables we sit at when we eat.
I don't care if everybody judges me.

I survived frickin' breast cancer last year, double mastectomy, and reconstructive surgery. My DH and I are making it to 25 years of marriage this summer. I want to live and celebrate that. I'm going to eat an expensive-as-heck fancy dinner at Napa Rose or Steakhouse 55 and we're going to have an awesome time experiencing Star Wars Galaxy's Edge for the first time.

 

[disykat]

My pet peeve. Some people are so "all or nothing" in their thinking. Two people have referenced "those that are waiting for the vaccine" but not a single person has said they are planning to do that. Most people are waiting for numbers to be down in their area, and following the experts advice phasing in for their area and watching the numbers. Current recommendations are different depending on what the virus is doing in your area. Those of us still staying in because our areas aren't that open yet aren't just "waiting for a vaccine."

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

My pet peeve. Some people are so "all or nothing" in their thinking. Two people have referenced "those that are waiting for the vaccine" but not a single person has said they are planning to do that. Most people are waiting for numbers to be down in their area, and following the experts advice phasing in for their area and watching the numbers. Current recommendations are different depending on what the virus is doing in your area. Those of us still staying in because our areas aren't that open yet aren't just "waiting for a vaccine."

Oh you must have missed those posts then. People have def. been saying they will wait for a vaccine plenty of times over they have and over a multitude of situations. And in the context of the discussion it's also not an all or nothing deal with respects to waiting for a vaccine comment as if people won't leave their homes til that, they have also stated things like vacationing (or to certain destinations), contact with so and so, certain other activities, etc.

If you're interested you can utilize the search function

 

[SaintsManiac]

My 81 year old dad just called - their favorite breakfast spot set up a big canopy outside for eating and he made us all breakfast reservations for 10:30 Saturday morning!!!

I can't wait to see my parents and go out to breakfast!!!

Hooray! I’m happy for you, friend. Enjoy!

I get to see my godmother and enjoy her beach condo in one week. I’m on cloud nine!

 

[Farro]

Hooray! I’m happy for you, friend. Enjoy!

I get to see my godmother and enjoy her beach condo in one week. I’m on cloud nine!

Thank you! I can't wait to see his hair, apparently he and my mom have been "styling" it.
I'm getting a grilled cheese and fries - my favorite diner breakfast!

A beach trip and seeing family sounds amazing, have fun!

 

[disykat]

Oh you must have missed those posts then. People have def. been saying they will wait for a vaccine plenty of times over they have and over a multitude of situations. And in the context of the discussion it's also not an all or nothing deal with respects to waiting for a vaccine comment as if people won't leave their homes til that, they have also stated things like vacationing (or to certain destinations), contact with so and so, certain other activities, etc.

If you're interested you can utilize the search function

I'm glad to see that you realize that people who have said (on other threads, since no one mentioned it on this thread) that they won't do certain things or certain destinations without a vaccine are not planning on totally stopping their lives until a vaccine. That isn't an attitude I've really seen here, though I've seen it referred to as if it was multiple times.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I'm glad to see that you realize that people who have said (on other threads, since no one mentioned it on this thread) that they won't do certain things or certain destinations without a vaccine are not planning on totally stopping their lives until a vaccine.

I guess I'm glad to realize something I never said to the contrary Funny too considering my comment to the other poster was in direct relation to them getting close to their loved ones so yeah..you're barking up the wrong tree here.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

We have been really good with the social distancing over the last few months. My DD21 had only seen her boyfriend and his family from March 9th to May 15th. His family closed their house to everyone but her and we did the same. DS23 and DH had only seen 2 friends each (outside with social distancing). They also spent time on the golf course. I hadn’t been anywhere except for the grocery store once a week. I’m a middle school teacher and was working like crazy doing distance learning. That’s how it WAS.

Virginia moved to Phase I a couple of weeks ago. DD went up to her college to help her graduating boyfriend move home. She saw about 15 friends over the week she was there and had food and drinks on restaurant patios several times. I wasn’t totally happy about the number of people she saw, but it was out of my control. DS added a few more friends to his routine over the last couple of weeks as well. A week and a half ago, I finally left the house to go to a park, people watch and feed the ducks. Then this past weekend, we had dinner and drinks on a restaurant patio on Friday, and had a couple over for social distancing dinner and drinks on our deck on Sunday. Midweek I went over to another friend’s house for drinks around their outdoor firepit. It was nice to get out. I was a little nervous, but it was all outside with distancing.

Things sort of went crazy yesterday. Yesterday was our last day of school. All faculty and staff had to participate in an outdoor drive up book return because all the kids had to return the books they’d been using for the last 10 weeks of distance learning. Then we had to bucket brigade/human chain all the books back into the building and into the classrooms. It was 96 degrees outside. Most of us had masks on most of the time. I didn’t wear one because my job was to direct traffic. I was isolated and didn’t come in contact with anyone. But I did talk to a few of my teacher friends without a mask a couple of times - outside and not super close. During the bucket brigade was probably the closest I got to anyone. I didn’t think anything of it until today.

Today one of my teacher friends texted me that her nurse daughter just tested positive for Covid-19!!! Just got the test results back this morning. And her other daughter has symptoms too. She and her husband have 5 adult children plus two of the kids’ spouses and one baby living in their house right now. 10 people- all exposed now. And DD’s boyfriend is friends with her sons and was over at their house visiting for a few hours Saturday night. He and DD then spent all day Sunday together. Yikes!!! So he was exposed, and if he has it, DD has been exposed. DD also marched on Monday and Wednesday in 2 daytime protest marches (without our knowledge, wearing a mask but with hoards of people). So all that careful quarantining has been undone in just a couple weeks’ time. I hope and pray we all stay healthy. If we do, it will be because masks and hand washing saved us.