How To Stop The Wars About Risky Behavior In The Year of Covid

Three  things are really hard for me: getting off sugar, learning each form of social media and agreeing with friends and family about what it’s ok to do in this year of the plague. It’s the last that I bring before you today. You have already run into it one way or another.

Take couples for instance: Maybe the man thinks it’s ok to have Ronnie over for drinks inside the house, all notions of a mask set aside. Six-pack thinking according to the wife, who hasn’t even allowed their grown kids in the house for three months. There will be a conversation about that, you betcha, with probably no conclusion as this Covid is new and many are the guesses about what to do and what not to do. Is your guess as good as mine?

Or take someone living alone. One thing that person knows is that living in a hermitage is getting old, especially since it may continue to the end of the year. So what to do? What outside activities are highest risk and what are lowest? Is a trip to the grocery store the same risk as a trip to the doctor’s office?

And so it has gone. Such confusion. But…the physicians in Texas have gotten together to make up a handy dandy risk chart going from 1…low risk…to 9…high risk. To me, the chart seems sensible, providing some structure to the choices we all make.

Examples: Worst thing is going to a bar. Also 9’s: going to a sports stadium or big music concert.  Though the chart doesn’t mention it, I would think political rallies and conventions would be up there in the 9’s, high risk.

The 8’s are still high risk, but not quite as bad. One surprise for me is that going to a buffet is an 8. So is Disneyland.

Getting a haircut is a 7, which is too late for me as I got one last week because I couldn’t see out past my hair. I do have a son who now looks like Benjamin Franklin, bald on top from chemo, but luxurious  on the side. The info on the chart indicates that I should shut up and not say a word about a haircut.

You have to see the chart for yourself, but opening the mail is a 1, lowest risk; getting takeout is a 2; grocery shopping is a 3; eating on the outside of a restaurant is a 4; having dinner at someone’s house is a 5; visiting an elderly relative is a 6, though the chart does not say who is at this moderate risk, the visitor or us geezers.

Using the chart as a guide when there now is little else to show the way, maybe a  couple could agree that the family do only those things that are 1 to 3 on the chart, the lowest level of risk. A lively single looking for action will know to stay away from the 7 through 9, the highest risk.

Below is the link to this chart which doesn’t cover every situation, but it surely is a start, a way to make these new decisions without getting into a fight with family, friends or yourself.

If this link does not work for you, Google:

Know Your Risk, Texas Medical Association.

Thanks to the docs of Texas, maybe I can now stop the argle-bargle with Cranky Pants. And get lots of takeout. Only a 2.

https://www.tpr.org/post/know-your-risk-covid-19-chart-released-texas-medical-association