Our household has been really careful since lockdown. The
children have left the house pretty much only to walk in the neighborhood, with
one or two in-car only outings (like to a friend's birthday parade). My husband
has gone out only once or twice himself. I've done all the other necessary
outings and practiced as much social distancing and covering up as I am able
(masks, gloves for shopping, turning my face away from people who pass too
close in the grocery store, etc.).
But last Tuesday, we needed a large piece of household
equipment. My husband went out to select and pay for it, and I went back later to the
same store to bring it home (because trunk space). The store we went to was not
practicing any care measures. Within 48 hours, both of us were showing the symptoms
that had us calling in to the doctor asking whether we should quarantine.
Normally, we think of getting colds as unavoidable, a
natural consequence of being out in the world in regular contact with other
people. I've never before had an experience where I felt like I could isolate
having "picked up a cold" to one particular encounter. And I'm
shocked at how easy it was to pick it up, since I didn't touch anything except
the door handle at the store, and my husband; we don't know which of us was the
vector for the other. We're lucky that what we got was minor and not COVID, a
threat which raised a host of questions for us--including what would happen to
our children if we both were hospitalized at the same time. This is why I'm
developing a list of safe practices that a public place needs to put in place
before I enter.
It's shockingly easy to pick up a virus.
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