How to make decisions about easing up Covid-19 lockdown

Covid-19 lockdown means that at this particular moment I’m watching (and listening to the narration) of  my son building a train track. Normally he would never demean himself far enough to play with a toy, but quarantine is no joke and he is bored out of his mind. School is almost out and online learning no longer takes up a few hours of his day. What we are now facing is decisions about returning back to real life. My state is almost completely opened up, and almost everyone else has already gone back to life. Yet, Covid 19 cases are still rising.

So here we are trying to make the best decision about what to do. Swim team is opening up next week with strict precautions in place. Friends are inviting us over, so what do we do when someone in the household has no immune system and another person has asthma? Do we retreat inside until a vaccine comes out in a few years? Do we lock ourselves in and avoid the world as much as possible? Or do we start going out a little, because the kids are going nuts after being stuck at home for more than two months? What is the right choice?

What to do about Covid-19 lockdown

Around here I’m hearing most people say “you do you, whatever your family decides is okay.” But is it okay? What if we go out and end up be asymptomatic carriers and then make someone else sick? What if we go out and the kid with asthma catches it? How do we live with that decision? I’m really not cool with being responsible for the death of someone else.  I aggressively judge the people who go into large crowds without taking precautions. Mostly because I assume it’s one of those selfish people that will kill me should I do something basic like venture to the grocery store.

Maybe we can go out a little. Attend swim practice, see a few friends, but avoid the large crowds. Maybe that will be enough, but what if it’s not? What if one of us ends up in the hospital and dies alone with no one by their bedside all because we were tired of staying home?

More and more people are saying that people who are sick should just stay home forever because healthy people deserve the freedom to do what they want. So what if we do just stay home and stop interacting with people? How will the kids be damaged by all the time inside and lack of interaction? How will all this affect their mental health?

All these questions are valid, and unfortunately no one has the answers to them (except I recommend not being a selfish ass). I wish that someone could just tell me what the right answer is, and all I’d have to do it follow it. All people with preexisting conditions have to go through this debate, and there’s a lot more at stake for us then healthy people. Sure healthy people can get sick and die too, but their chances of survival are much better.

What I want to remind people is that you can do this, you can do hard things. Making these decisions right now is not easy, whether you decide to remain home or to risk some interaction for your mental health or the mental health of your family.