{"id":3924,"date":"2020-06-23T12:39:12","date_gmt":"2020-06-23T17:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/?page_id=3924"},"modified":"2020-11-14T20:43:44","modified_gmt":"2020-11-15T01:43:44","slug":"risks-and-concerns","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/gleewood.org\/seeking\/adapting\/risks-and-concerns\/","title":{"rendered":"Risks and concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is part two of my series of articles on coven in the time of Covid-19<\/strong><\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was written in June 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Adapting<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

How can we reduce the risks?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We know some activities are more risky than others, but we also can take some steps to reduce the risks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be further apart, physically. <\/strong>The current recommendation in most places is at least 6′, and ideally outside. (If outside isn’t possible, really good ventilation helps.) We should also avoid close contact like hugs, handshakes, or other informal kinds of contact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have separate food and cooking space from people outside our household, and avoid shared bathroom access. <\/strong>It’s easy in all these situations to touch something then accidentally touch our faces (a transmission route). This means that meeting for a longer period of time is a higher risk (someone might need the bathroom, or need to eat or drink.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wear a mask<\/strong>. It reduces the chance you might infect someone else, and also (to a lesser degree) helps protect you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masks need to be worn properly (cover your nose and mouth, without gaps), and remain on while you’re near people. Raising and lowering the increases the chance you can touch something infected and infect yourself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They need to be properly cleaned or replaced after each use, depending on the type. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reduce or avoid activities that can transmit the virus across larger spaces. <\/strong>Basically, this is anything that involves projecting your voice (speaking to an audience, singing, chanting) or that involves breathing more heavily (exercise or other physical exertion). For religious groups, this means no communal singing or chanting, at least not when you’re physically near each other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Use individual tools and utensils. <\/strong>We shouldn’t share food, plates, serving utensils, etc. In ritual, that means we shouldn’t share ritual tools, everyone needs their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about the spaces we’re using. <\/strong>Private homes have lots of fabric and soft surfaces (harder to clean and disinfect). Pets can carry contagious particles on fur (they likely won’t get sick, but they could spread it to people in the household.) A lot of private homes don’t have enough space for more than one or two people to be sufficiently distanced. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider a risk budget. <\/strong>One approach some people have suggested is treating our exposure to risk like a budget. If it’s super important to us to spend time with family we don’t live with, or with our coven, what can we do to reduce risk in other areas of our life? Or if we need to spend time with other people for our work, how can we limit our exposure in other ways? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taking stock of our specifics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We all have different situations (and in my coven, this is also true.) Taking a clear look at our individual situations helps us make better decisions about the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is our living situation like? <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Who do we live with? If we live with other people, who are they interacting with? (Is the household a tight bubble, and intending to stay that way? Or is it going to need to be more flexible?) One of the challenges of this particular situation is that we’re not only making decisions about our own behavior, but we have to evaluate how people we don’t know are handling things (like someone’s family members, or roommates. etc.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n