With gratitude to you for your sweet honesty, and in keeping with the 'mission' of this site, I feel that everyone here is a brighter light for the communion..... ??
Way up in this thread, I think I posted a link to an article, I forget where, that basically said "Get ready for the biggest gaslighting ever." First of all, EVERY commercial right now for EVERY thing, whether small or big company is full of b.s. "heartfelt sentiments" about how the company in question is "in this with you", "we got your back", with lots of phone video footage of people in their homes. That was the first wave of gaslightling. What you describe is the predicted second wave - "Come back! We've made is super safe!"
Yeah, well it's corporate America. They are not in this with us. They do not have our backs. Everything is not super safe. The NY Times reported that more than 60% of Americans believe it's not safe to reopen the economy, and of that 60% I think 80% said they had no intention of returning to consumer activities this year. No one has money to spend. Millions are out of work, and in most states the UI claims re filed but going unpaid for weeks or months at a time. Which means many more millions are also now uninsured. The NYT pointed out that you can open whatever you want, but you can't force people to shop, and that despite what we see on the "news" (e.g., people crowding bars and restaurants in Denver and Wisconsin), the vast majority of people have no intention of doing anything like that. The article also said that for those of us who are high risk, it's unlikely we'd even be able to return to such activities with bare minimum precautions.
Here in San Diego we are going to "Phase 2" of that state's plan for reopening. So here's the issue: some retail stores are allowed to reopen, as long as they have safety plans in place, which they do not have to submit to anyone for approval, and as long as they are providing curbside service only. Well, my husband noticed a shoe store and a furniture store, both re-opened, with signs about social distancing and masking, however people were inside shopping (he did say most were masked). As with everything else pandemic around here, there's no enforcement whatsoever. So I have zero trust in the reopening process, and hope the governor shuts things down again as soon as the resurgence spikes up.
I have NO intention of doing any of the following for the rest of this year, at least, and maybe not til 2022:
In-person retail shopping (except necessities)
Air travel
Staying in a hotel
Dining inside a restaurant
Taking any form of in-person group class, whether it's French or Dance
Attending any large public events (e.g., outdoor concerts)
Walking my dogs on busy city streets
Going to small parties of more than 6 people
Leaving my house unmasked
Elective medical visits that can wait
Using public transit
Using rideshare apps
I'm still waiting to hear ideas from y'all about what to do when my hubby has to start traveling again for business - we only have 1 bathroom in our tiny house and there's no way to isolate us from each other. We both are high risk (me more than him tho).
@5leafclover I suspect the first good vaccine will probably NOT come from a US manufacturer. (That's logic talking, not intuition--because there's no leadership or coordination here like there is in the more sane countries.)
Now, wouldn't that be a kick in the diaper for the current occupant of the WH?
Regarding trying to isolate when your husband returns to work -- I don't know if this would be possible given, but could you rent/buy a travel trailer? You can get a used one for under 20k and monthly payments could be as low 120/month. If you can rent one, even better.
That way, he could come home from work and go there to change/shower -- and even sleep/eat there.
Of course, that assumes you have a spot on your property to park one. And while it is fairly easy to get electric to the unit, I don't know how to swing the water issue. I assume you don't have a sewer hookup just waiting next to the house ? However, there are lots of RV groups on Facebook and I have found them to be very helpful.
That's all I got -- sorry it isn't a better suggestion.
Good idea, but We live in the city - nowhere to legally park a camper and no way to hook it up to electric or plumbing safely. Good thought for those in the suburbs, though.
In an ideal world, yes, but that's a costly and not practical solution. Also, there's a bit of a compliance issue with my husband. He lacks the OCD and paranoia that are serving me so well. He swears he'd wear a mask to travel, but who knows... it's more about how to isolate him on his return.
@laura-f Hi. I Love San Diego. I lived there until 2003 for almost 9 years and miss it still. We lived in a rental house for a bit in Scripps (Wish we had bought it when it was $285,00 instead of $650,000 now) We had a small patio that one could practically live on. I am thinking that you can put together some sort of outdoor living space with access to the bathroom in the garage? I know your daughter and BF are there. Super cleaning of the bathroom etc. There could be a lot of creative ways to set it up with privacy. I seem to remember lots of unusual outdoor spaces in PB and other beach communities. Just a thought....
Well, we do have decent outdoor space, but we're mostly living in it to feel less hemmed in. Also, by July it will get too hot to spend too much time out there. We are on an urban canyon, so we have a lot of wildlife coming through, so bathroom aside, I can't make my husband live in a tent out back.
The outdoor space is communal in that it allows us to spend time together while still socially distant, so certainly we could take all our meals out there. In fact, my husband will be starting up band practice in a few weeks. I can't make singers wear masks, nor guitarists wear gloves so we're going to rehearse outside. Our plan is to give the band access to the garage bathroom, which will be scrubbed before and after rehearsal, and we'll give daughter + BF the heads up to spend the afternoon at his mother's house.
I found this interesting. A group of small businesses is resisting the re-opening of Arizona and have signed a letter stating why it is too early to open the state back up. More business owners are signing the letter every day.
LA Times reiterates what we've been saying: wearing a mask isn't just to protect you, it's to protect everyone else, and it means you are considerate.
Masks aren't foolish. Here's proof.