You want to hug your family and friends and hang out with them again, and not this rude coronavirus, who barged in uninvited, causing chaos, fear, sickness and death worldwide.
But COVID-19 has no plans to leave even when orders imposed to stop the spread of the disease ends. A vaccine to protect against the virus will likely take at least a year to develop.
Will you wait that long to reopen your arms and homes to family and friends? Is it OK if you don't wait?
Ultimately, you will make the call.
“You have to use your best judgment,” Bill Mullan, spokesman for Oakland County, said. “No one can give a hard date of 'On June 25 or Aug. 1 you can do this'… It will be a personal decision based on your circumstances.”
That decision, he said, should take into account the vulnerability of parties involved, particularly age and underlying health conditions that can cause more severe impacts to a person who contracts the coronavirus, as well as your own exposure.
The official all-clear?
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's May 18 executive order allows reopening of some bars and restaurants in northerm Michigan at half capacity, but the order also states that "subject to same exceptions, all public and private gatherings of any number of people occurring among persons not part of a single household are prohibited."
Some have decided the waiting is over.
Crystal Berens and Karen Eickhoff met up May 13 at Kensington Metropark with their children to bike and enjoy the park together. Berens said she felt safe because the families had been "doing what we're supposed to be doing."
Others are still weighing the risks in a high stakes game in which each player has their own unique circumstances to consider in making the best move.
Mullan noted the reality is a healthy person can also be a carrier and expose someone else who — worst-case scenario — may go downhill quickly and have to be put on a respirator.
Kerry Maiolatesi, 27, is young and healthy and was recently visiting Kensington Metropark to do some hiking on a sunny afternoon to avoid going stir crazy. She lives with her parents in Howell but hasn’t seen older siblings in the past two months. She probably won’t anytime soon as she works in a grocery store.
“I would love to hug my family, but I could be a carrier,” Maiolatesi said. “Maybe when I get a few weeks off with hazard pay and isolate myself for a few weeks.”
On Mother’s Day, Brian and Kathy Durand of Livonia traveled to Kalamazoo to see their son.
Brian, a tinsmith at Detroit Diesel, and Kathy, a school bus driver, have both been off work for two months, and their son has also been in quarantine. The family watched a movie together on the rainy day, but there was no hugging. Instead, they “elbow bumped.”
Brian expected to be called back to work, but said doing so would affect his ability to see his 83-year-old stepfather.
Quin Fletcher, 22, of Royal Oak, lives with his parents, but is only seeing his grandparents outside, from at least 6 feet away.
“Hopefully we can see them more in a month or two,” he said. “They’re real old and we’re trying to play it safe. My Grandpa’s almost 90.”
Carolyn Blair saw her mom on Easter as she dropped gifts off on the porch for Blair’s young sons, Owen, 7, and Jack, 4.
The kids, who used to see their grandmother four times a week, don’t understand.
“It’s very hard on the kids,” Blair said. “They’re also not seeing their friends and they’re very confused.”
Mullan said age alone is a big risk factor and “if Grandma in addition has other risk factors, you may want to think twice about visiting in person."
On the other hand, if you are working from home and plan to continue to do so, with limited exposure to the public, you pose less of a risk of spreading coronavirus to a relative with a visit.
All of the factors must be weighed, but he said regardless, best practices should still be in place: keeping a distance of six feet, wearing a mask, washing hands with warm, soapy water for at least 20 seconds. Those practices should continue, even after the stay at home order is lifted.
Whitmer issued her first stay at home order two months ago and after multiple extensions, is set to end May 28. However, a 6-phase state economic plan that gives some guidance on reopening of businesses remains vague on personal and social guidelines.
At-risk individuals are advised to shelter in place and others are advised to isolate from those at-risk individuals.
In the fourth and fifth phases, "small" or "limited-size" gatherings would be permitted, but with social distancing (6 feet away) still in place.
It's not until the final "post-pandemic" phase, in which "community spread is not expected to return, because of sufficient community immunity and availability of treatment" that all restrictions/recommendations on maintaining distance end.
“Staying home is still the safer decision, since COVID is with us until there is a vaccine or a cure,” Mullen said. “Certainly we expect people to resume seeing their family, but again, use good judgment. If you are exposed to the public, you may not want to visit Grandma. If you’re not, you still need to think about it. If I do go over, how can I limit (possible coronavirus exposure)? Evaluate those questions. In the pandemic era, it’s better to err on the side of caution.”
Contact reporter Susan Bromley at sbromley@hometownlife.com or 517-281-2412. Follow her on Twitter @SusanBromley10.
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