Social distancing for couples

[Sunset]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JustCurious It is hard to have sex while social distancing, just sayin'.

I guess 6 feet is a stretch...

[donheff]

There is only so much you can do. Moving out is a non-starter for us. We plan a version of Gumby's approach, if either of us gets sick I move to the basement and DW stays in the more comfortable master bedroom . The basement has a large sofa, big screen TV and bathroom. We would stay separate as much as possible as the virus takes it's course. N95 mask for any necessary contact, paranoid hand and surface disinfection. If DW got bad I would help out (encouraging her to move, avoid back sleeping, perform breathing exercises, eat, etc. If she showed serious symptoms (shortness of breath) I would don an N95 and take her to the ER of the most appropriate hospital we could figure out. Ambulances take you where they take you.

The odds are probably good that both of us would become infected despite precautions but I don't see a viable alternative. I'm 71, she is 67 so both at risk. We have no underlying conditions and are in good shape so there is a good possibility that one or both of us would get through without the need for hospitalization. I'm not sure what more we could do (other than even more stringent disinfecting) if we had serious underlying conditions.

[Vincenzo Corleone]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sojourner This is an ideal scenario, with the complete physical isolation of the RV. But I wonder how any social distancing between living partners could be implemented in such a way to ensure there was no virus transmission during the asymptomatic phase, which, from what I've read, can last for multiple days after infection occurs. Seems like isolating only after the infected person feels poorly enough to say "I'm sick" is like closing the stable door after the horse has bolted.

+1

[braumeister]

We're very fortunate that the guest bedroom in our condo is on the lower level, with its own full bathroom. I've prepared it with a microwave and a small induction cooktop, and I already had my beer frig down there. So if I come down with it I plan to simply move there and use masking tape to cover the stairwell with a plastic drop cloth. DW can leave food for me in the stairwell and we should be separated enough.

Obviously, no way to tell if this is even reasonable, since we might get infected together, but at least it's a plan. Since I'm older and probably more vulnerable (had asthma as a kid), it seems likely I'd be the one in trouble.

[Teacher Terry]

W2, if one of you gets the flu and is in bed don’t you guys cook for each other? My husband doesn’t cook but when I was in bed for 2 weeks he made me soup, etc.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry W2, if one of you gets the flu and is in bed don’t you guys cook for each other? My husband doesn’t cook but when I was in bed for 2 weeks he made me soup, etc.

Well, that hasn't happened yet. Guess if/when it does, we'll find out!

[Lawrencewendall]

Just saying.

[CaptTom]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aerides We have a plan: master bed/bath will become the isolation domain for the patient. Healthy person gets the rest of the house, and is in charge of all meals and anything else the sick person might need. Will wear one of our 2 old N95's we found under the sink during any interactions if needed for care giving.

A couple I know has one partner sick. The above is basically what they're doing. She's sick upstairs, he stays downstairs and leaves meals outside the door.

She's recovering OK, as of a few days ago. He's high risk and I'll hopefully be hearing soon whether he caught it or not.

[Teacher Terry]

W2, wow it’s lucky neither of you have ever had the flu. I get it about once every 10 years.

[Winemaker]

DW and I rarely ever get colds, or influenza. My last flu episode was in 2000, and was the first time in 19 years I ever called off from work, and I really think it was food poisoning from some canned tuna.

[Rambler]

I snore. My wife is a light sleeper. Social distancing is the old nighttime normal. All but one of the bedrooms in our home has its own bathroom, so we essentially each have our own “master” bedroom. Our normal routine is morning cuddles instead of nighttime cuddles, and morning caffeine (in whatever form that takes) in the “real” master bedroom. If one of us got sick, we’d just stick to our own room, and the other would likely prepare meals for the one who is sick and leave it outside the door. If we could park the RV by the house, that’s what we’d do, but we can’t.

[CardsFan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Winemaker DW and I rarely ever get colds, or influenza. My last flu episode was in 2000, and was the first time in 19 years I ever called off from work, and I really think it was food poisoning from some canned tuna.

You made me think about it. I cannot recall the last either one of us had a really bad flu. Has to be at least 20 years ago, and probably longer (knock on wood).

A crappy day or two, yeah, but nothing that kept either one in bed all day.

Colds are another matter, we each get those 1-2 times a year, but not debilitating, just inconvenient.

And, for the record, I never got regular flu shots until about 10 years ago. DW, a little longer.

[HaveEnough]

I'll be the caution to the wind opinion.
I'm 57, wife 52. I'm diabetic. And, reading the latest research from Stanford where a ton more people have it and are asymptomatic implies that the mortality rates (I ain't a doctor and I don't play one on TV either) are much lower than said. However, these larger numbers mean that it is much more contagious than thought, but also much less terrible as thought.

So, get out, exercise, loose weight if you need to, get healthy, eat right, remove stress from your life... it'll kill ya faster IMO.

Study in the UK showed that the at risk group seems to be the overweight, obese and morbidly obese.

NY hospitals are showing that a much larger number of pregnant woman have it and are, asymptomatic.

If you are at risk, stay home and be cautions. If you can get healthier through diet and exercise, do it. We need a herd level immunity so the next time this comes around, we treat it no differently than the flu (a vaccine would help too)

Sleep with your partner/girlfriend/mistress (oops), hold them, love them, comfort them, do you really think that the air circulated in the same home 24/7 will never move between rooms or floors?

Ok, I'm sure I've put an unpopular opinion out there. Discuss as you will, that's my opinion...references below.



https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...to-coronavirus

https://paloaltoonline.com/news/2020...by-coronavirus

https://www.livescience.com/coronavi...-high-nyc.html

[harley]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaveEnough Study in the UK showed that the at risk group seems to be the overweight, obese and morbidly obese.

You do realize that 70% of the US population is in the overweight/obese weight range? And it's pretty close to the same percentage in the UK. That cuts the herd immunity pool down pretty significantly, if the "at risk" people stay home.

Quote:

Sleep with your partner/girlfriend/mistress (oops), hold them, love them, comfort them, do you really think that the air circulated in the same home 24/7 will never move between rooms or floors?

Of course the air circulates, but viruses tend to drop out of circulation over distance. Especially when moving through filters. I can absolutely guarantee that if the sick person isolates in the house it will significantly decrease the chance of the other person catching it from them. No guarantees, but if you love someone why wouldn't you want to protect them as best you can? I see no reason to isolate when you're both well, but at the first sign of illness I always isolate, whether it's a cold, flu, coronavirus, or whatever. it's the least I can do.

[6miths]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ronstar I moved to the guest room about a month ago when I was felling a little ill. I use a different bathroom than DW and generally stay at least 6' from her. But I'm thinking of moving back to the master bedroom and taking my chances. Has anyone here moved away from their spouse/SO/partner and children? If so, when are you moving back?

There's a good chance that DW has already had the virus a couple of weeks ago. Kids didn't do much of anything. I washed my hands alot and tried to suppress my tendency to express my affection. I'm still pretty young and very healthy and figure I'm going to get it sooner or later. If I had significant risk factors I might (would) have behaved differently.

[Just_Steve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by harley You do realize that 70% of the US population is in the overweight/obese weight range? And it's pretty close to the same percentage in the UK. That cuts the herd immunity pool down pretty significantly, if the "at risk" people stay home. Of course the air circulates, but viruses tend to drop out of circulation over distance. Especially when moving through filters. I can absolutely guarantee that if the sick person isolates in the house it will significantly decrease the chance of the other person catching it from them. No guarantees, but if you love someone why wouldn't you want to protect them as best you can? I see no reason to isolate when you're both well, but at the first sign of illness I always isolate, whether it's a cold, flu, coronavirus, or whatever. it's the least I can do.

According to NY obesity doesn't crack the top ten of co-morbidities.
https://covid19tracker.health.ny.gov...&%3Atoolbar=no

[6miths]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Just_Steve According to NY obesity doesn't crack the top ten of co-morbidities. https://covid19tracker.health.ny.gov...&%3Atoolbar=no

Perhaps because they didn't collect the data? It is surprising how frequently height, weight, and BMI are not charted and how infrequently people who are quite clearly overweight/obese are not labelled as such. The top four co-morbitidities are highly co-related with high BMI.

[Sanbenito1]

We are sleeping separately because one goes into work occasionally and one does not. We are sleeping great! And not planning on sharing a bed again.

[Just_Steve]

Quote:

Originally Posted by 6miths Perhaps because they didn't collect the data? It is surprising how frequently height, weight, and BMI are not charted and how infrequently people who are quite clearly overweight/obese are not labelled as such. The top four co-morbitidities are highly co-related with high BMI.

Got it, makes sense.

[Old Microbiologist]

If you live in close proximity then it is basically a waste. Viruses, and especially this virus, are very tiny. Coronavirus inhabits the throat area and even asymptomatic people will shed the virus in their breath for up to 21 days. These tiny particles re small enough they behave like a gas and remain suspended in the air for a long time. This virus can live up to 3 hours in the air and on surfaces they settle onto. We do not know the infective dose but assume it is very small. So, touching an area the other person was in or even breathing the same air within 3 hours is enough to get infected. Unless you can isolate the areas entirely or live is complete separate places which never have any contact at all then it is an unnecessary burden to try and avoid each other. I only sleep in another room away from my DW if one of us is coughing a lot making sleep impossible. I prefer to be near her at night her as she has some cardiac issues and several times I have awoken to her being in distress and once called an ambulance which saved her life. Throughout my career I worked call back night shifts or was on LP/OP duty so always sleep with one ear open so to speak. I developed a technique to be able to work on patients without actually having to wake up all the way. That comes in handy on 72 hour shifts.

So, IMHO if one spouse gets a disease the other is always exposed if they share the same spaces. The other might be immune enough to avoid the disease which actually happens a lot.