COVID 19 - The Coronavirus: When We Do Go Out....BEFORE the "Stay Home"

Thursday, 3/26 we went on our bi-monthly dump run. It was the first time Shane left the house since we dropped Nibbs off on 3/15. 

I had a virtual staff meeting at 1:30 PM, so Carrie didn't think we'd have time to drop off some cardboard boxes.

There was no one ahead of us. We really should have grabbed more stuff to get rid of!

I was the only one who got out of the car at the dump. When we drove to Costco Carrie was the only one who got out.

Gas prices were the lowest I've seen in over a decade. I had to have still been in college. I remember it being cheaper, but that goes all the way back to high school for me.

We dropped by Southern States on the way home and it was Carrie's turn to get out again. 

Then we swung by Ace Hardware for a final stop where Carrie backed the truck and trailer up pick up sweet feed (She had to park at a weird angle due to a semi and then brought the trailer around hard and drove up in reverse. One of the guys laughed and called out, "You can drive, girl!").

Did you see the pattern? 

Only one of us got out at each stop. Shane stuck in the car, because he can't be trusted not to crawl on the ground and lick his hands or pick his nose.

Are we high-risk for the virus? No.

Based on the numbers there's less than a 0.1% chance we'd bump into anyone who's carrier. At the time there were less than 1,000 positive test results out of over 8.5 million people in VA. Even if you suspected there were 20 times as many cases due to lack of testing and asymptomatic carriers that would put the percentage at a little over 0.2%

However, if we're going to support the system, Carrie and I figured we may as well do the self-isolation thing right. She has gone to the grocery store or hardware store a couple of times, but Shane's stayed at home and I've stayed at home.

Except for book club.

I have left the house for a little under 2 hours each Sunday. We've met at Mark's brewery where we were the only three people sitting around, because it was closed!

We've always sat far enough apart (I had my own table!) and Mark washed his hands before he grabbed anyone some beers.

It's not following the rules of quarantine 100%, but we did the social distancing bit and there hasn't been a stay at home order.

Until now.

The order came out at 2 PM Monday. Patrick was happy the government was endorsing his lifestyle of choice!

Carrie was in the barn when the announcement was made. She was in the process of trying to shut down when I told her to hold up.

Not that it stopped, Carrie!

She saw Madeleine pull up when we were talking in the garage. Carrie ran down to tell her we were closed ("Game off!"), but I caught up to her with the written order on my phone. I showed her what I'd read and we were back in business ("Game on!").

1.E applies to our barn from my understanding of what was written. Carrie decided that to best follow the directive, any boarders who wanted to visit would need to text or call in advance. If anyone else texted for a similar time, Carrie would direct them to come earlier or later so that only one boarder was on property at a time. That way we could ensure there were always less than 6 people around the barn to allow for easy distancing.

I don't think we even needed to do that based on Section 2. Gatherings of 10 or more people are prohibited, but I think our record was 9 people on property when the cousins and grandparents visited. At that only happened once!

We're doing our part to keep with the spirit of things, though. The 'mandate' was mainly targeted at the larges groups of people on beaches or going to parties and acting like there isn't a need for social distancing. I could understand more resistance to staying in all the time in the really rural stretches, but Virginia Beach? I get that it's outside. I get that the odds are low. However, I also know that if enough people play the odds the virus is going to get passed around more than it needs to be and the odds will become higher the more people play them (and very stealthily with the way the virus presents itself).