I'm Getting Lax

I started wearing a mask to the grocery in February.  I remember taking it off because nobody else was wearing one and I felt stupid.  Next trip to the store there were others in masks and so I kept mine on, and a pair of gloves.

Not too long ago we would disinfect shoes when we came in.  We were wiping down doorknobs and faucets and light switches every other day if not every day.  I went out on all the errands and Mrs. TANBI stayed home.  Gib5on and Sabian never went out.

There was frequent handwashing - more than just when it seemed like a good idea, a regimented every little while washing.  There's an app on my watch with a 40 minute hand washing timer.  We were never that rigorous, but we were on it.

Somewhere along the line we made a conscious decision to expand our bubble to include another family and two babysitters so as to better enable everyone's work availability and also so that the kids got to see other kids now and again.  At one point my bother in law and his family came to visit for a while and at another point my sister and her family were here briefly.  Both of those were also conscious decisions and there was a lot of discussion about prior social distancing habits before we committed to the idea.

Lately though it feels like maybe we're losing sight of the issue.

Somewhere along the line it became ok for me to take Gib5on along with me to the store.  We both wear masks but he doesn't need to be there, its just a break in the routine for him and company for me.  Somewhere along the line I also stopped with the gloves.  There's still sanitizer in the car.  I guess there's a school of thought that says that is a better approach anyway.

The periodic hand washing and sanitizing has dropped off significantly.  It is still there, but we've lost our zeal.

We're keeping up our social distancing outside of the folks in our bubble, but I wonder how much longer we'll keep that up.  There's some peer pressure within our cohort to resume some pre-COVID behavior that would return us to periodic 20-25 person dinners.  About half of that group are kids that don't really manage the distancing very well, and half of those don't manage masks very well.  The talk is to keep the events outside, and that's well under the cap for an outside gathering in PA, but it still feels risky.

PPS is talking about two day a week in person school for Gib5on starting in like a month.  The ELC emailed today asking if Sabian is coming back full time in the fall.  CMU is expecting me back to work on campus to teach two classes in classrooms in the same time frame.  Work will be requiring masks any time anyone is on campus.  I guess they are thinking clear face shields for teachers at the front of the room.  I hope the students understand the exigency around masks and distancing and hygiene, but I also remember being a college student who more than I would like to admit did things I knew to be stupid on purpose (and probably many, many more times accidentally or without even noticing).

All of that sounds swell with regard to getting life back to normal, but against the day over day new case counts in Allegheny County it all feels premature.  It doesn't seem like social density should increase until the disease spread is decreasing.  Suggesting that doesn't seem to have much traction though.  I don't know why.

I've got to go wash my hands.