Head Tale

This is a photo from when we moved into our house last fall, not since Covid hit.

Now that we’ve been going out more for shopping, staying in our seasonal campsite since the start of June, I’ve been back to work for over a month, and we’ve even been brave enough to eat at a couple restaurants (only patios though, not inside!), I thought it might be interesting to think about who’s in my “bubble” of people I associate with.  This is listed roughly in order of how safe I feel around all of them.

“Immediate Family” Bubble
My tightest bubble is obviously my immediate family – Shea, Pace, and Sasha – to the point that if one of them were to get Covid, I’m pretty sure I would too as it would be difficult to isolate from all of them living under the same roof.

“Extended Family” Bubble
Family members we don’t live with including Shea’s parents and my parents who we regularly see, don’t wear masks around and don’t keep distance from when we see them are the next level of our “bubbles”.

“Coworker” Bubble
I’d put my coworkers at the library in this next level of bubble – people I interact with on a nearly daily basis, completely indoors but while wearing a mask, keeping well-sanitized and trying to keep our distance.

“People I See Semi-Regularly” Bubble 
This is already getting to the point that I wouldn’t even class people as being in a “bubble” per se – the people in the neighbouring campsites who we interact with regularly but try to keep our distance from and/or only interact with outside.  Our neighbours in Regina who we similarly don’t have in to our house (one advantage of moving to a new house last winter – we didn’t get to know our new neighbours well enough that we’d have them over like we might’ve at our old house!)

“Friends and More Distant Relatives” Bubble 
We’ve had a couple occasions where we’ve had a chance to see friends or extended family – a longtime friend visiting from Alberta, a cousin who moved back from Quebec – but after making arrangements to meet outdoors where we could socially distance, we decided to pull the pin both times because we’d get reminders that the risk is just too great – an outbreak nearby, someone we know getting a covid test, etc.  We also have an aunt who lives in Kelowna and usually stays with us for the entire month of May but that was during the heart of quarantine so also got cancelled.

“Everyone Else” Bubble 
There’s probably other sub-groups but really, beyond the ones I listed, the next “bubble” is “everyone else” ranging from clerks in grocery stores to other shoppers we pass by in stores to my mechanic to the patrons who come into my library to basically everyone else in society?

Even since the end of quarantine (for me, that was in mid-to-late June when I started back into branches to prepare for reopening), I’d say Shea and I have only eaten at a couple restaurants, both with patios, tried to always wear masks when shopping (we’re only human and slip if we forget/are only grabbing one thing/catch a ride with someone who doesn’t have a mask as I did when I ran into Weyburn with Shea’s dad one day and realised I didn’t have a mask when we ended up stopping at a few stores after not originally intending to.)  So overall, like most people, we’re doing our best to stay as safe as possible but also to continue living our life the best we can in this strange new normal.

At any rate, I’m just glad I got so much training in bubbles when I was younger…