Clearly, what we do to stay safe as society emerges from lockdown will vary greatly based on each person’s specific risk factors, situation, resources, and perhaps creativity. We may not be able to do much to change the first three, and we probably can’t completely eliminate all Covid-19 risk (just as we can’t completely eliminate all risk of car accidents, or catching any other disease or malady.) But we CAN certainly think outside the box and share our own ideas and plans here that may work for someone else, perhaps with modification; or may stimulate completely new ideas and strategies for staying healthy and minimizing risk.

In that spirit, I share my plan - simply to stimulate discussion and idea generation, NOT because my plan or ideas are any better than anyone else’s! First, I am at risk because I was on chemotherapy for 11 months for a rare autoimmune disorder which now seems to be under control, at least for now. At about six weeks post-chemo, my white blood cells are now recovered to normal levels, but I have read that it can take 6-9 months post-chemo for one’s T-cells to be back to full strength. So if I’m in a store with someone who is infected with this new CoronaVirus, I’m no more likely to catch the virus than someone else, but if I do catch it, I likely won’t be able to fight it very well, and could have a more severe battle on my hands, very possibly complicated by a relapse of my rare autoimmune disorder. Given that it is rare, no one can tell me how much “at risk” I would be.

So, my plan is to not find out! I.e. to pull out all the stops and do everything I can not to catch the virus in the first place, especially for the next 7 or 8 months while my T-cells are still not back to full strength. This is a two-pronged approach:

A. Reduce exposure risk and
B. Strengthen my Immune system

Starting with the latter, I can make sure I stay on a regular sleep schedule, eat plenty of good healthy food, get moderate exercise and 15 minutes of sun every day. I can read up on what superfoods strengthen the immune system and what lousy foods weaken it (like refined sugar.)
I can use the internet and the remainder of this lockdownperiod to find, and experiment with, more highly-rated healthy recipes. In short, I can use this pandemic and my fear of it as wonderful motivation to do these things and become a healthier and stronger person. In this way I turn my enemy into my ally, my fear into empowerment!

I also have detailed plans for limiting my risk of exposure. I am incredibly fortunate that my husband is not “at risk” and is willing and able to support us on his earnings alone. Thus I can be a non-working spouse or do some work from home. Either way, this allows me to basically stay on lockdown, at least while the world figures out how to do this re-emergence thing right. I can keep ordering groceries online. I don’t “need” to go get my hair or nails done. I can stay in touch with friends and family with FaceTime, Zoom, phone calls and texts. I have a friend who is also at risk and taking as many protective measures as I am. When we are both ready to emerge from our protective little bubbles, she will be the first friend I reconnect with, as we are both at low risk given how careful we’ve been, and we will understand each other’s trepidation at first “re-rentry” in a way our non “at-risk” friends probably will not.

One other unusual strategy that has emerged for me as my husband has been working from home during the lockdown is that I have become a night owl and, (because his company headquarters is in a three-hour earlier time zone) he has become an extreme morning person. We sleep in different bedrooms and at different times of the day. This has allowed him a quiet workspace in the morning and allowed us both more personal space and “breathing room” in a relatively small house. We have agreed to continue this as he returns to his office and his job’s required travel as we think it should help reduce the risk of him bringing home the virus and giving it to me.

He has also agreed to try to be as careful with his own exposure as if HE were the one with the compromised immune system and the incurable rare disease. His co-workers and boss know my situation and so will understand if my husband doesn’t shake hands, takes the stairs instead of a crowded elevator, etc., etc. I think the fact that we were open about what I went through during my chemo and how they kind of went through it with us will help my husband keep me safer, and I hope that his continued visible efforts to distance and sanitize will help them all be a bit more careful and safer as well, which helps keep their loved ones safe in turn. So don’t be afraid to be open about your, or your family’s, “at risk” status. You’ll probably find out just about everyone knows someone at risk for one reason or another, and this could create a great teamwork dynamic where everyone works to get the job done in a way that best protects everybody’s loved ones at home.

Well, this is already waaaay too long! I look forward to hearing other people’s plans and ideas for how to deal with being “at risk” as the country emerges from lockdown.

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