I understand completely what you are saying. Anyone that comes into contact with others should be wearing masks. But until we have a vaccine, are any of us going to want our high risk relatives out and about, even if our numbers were only 10% of what we are now?
This is a great question. For me, everything is about risk management. Yes ideally, to reduce the risk to 0, I should never leave the house and never allow my children to leave the house. That isn't good for any of us and most likely would cause severe depression in 2 out of 3 of us.
My friends and I have wrestled with the question as it comes to older parents and they are seeing them decline fast because of not having their normal schedule. We came to the conclusion that quality of life was more important and to not keep them locked up thus they take a risk doing their normal activities with as much safety as possible.
I have one friend that works at an elder care facility and while the residents do not have COVID, their mental faculties are declining at a very fast rate from being locked up in their rooms. They have decided to take the risk and do socially distanced visits outside and let them eat in the dining area socially distanced with safety measures in place because of quality of life.
My management strategy has been for the kids to take part in activities that are low in risk of spread based on the numbers in our local community. Basically everything they do is outdoors socially distanced. My oldest daughter is the one I am most concerned about but even she turned around and left from Irvine Spectrum this last weekend because it was so crowded with several people without masks. She chose a less risky activity.
Unfortunately, we, as with a large number of other people that are vulnerable, have to make choices based on how our community is responding to the Pandemic so we are counting on our community to do what it takes to not increase the spread unnecessarily. Based on the research I have done and the various statistics I watch religiously, I do not believe socially distanced practices as they are today increases that risk.
I believe we need to balance the needs of the whole community thus kids need to have something that is somewhat normal and I do not have any problem with all of the outdoor activities that are occurring even though I do not partake in them. People need a sense of normalcy and I get that. We just need to be smart about it and not choose an all or nothing approach leaving out segments of the community with little thought as a few have suggested.
I think a lot can change in the next 3 months in the way of treatment and knowledge so I am feeling hopeful. I think it is very doubtful any soccer games will be played before the end of the year for reasons I previously stated.
