covid-19 reopening

I just checked the city of Somerville website, and they're not reopening phase 3 step 1 businesses until July 20. The state as a whole moved to that stage this past Monday, and Boston is doing so Monday, July 13.

I no longer live in Somerville, but am following their guidelines specifically because they're more cautious than the state as a whole.

This probably doesn't affect anything I'd be likely to do, but it's a further note of caution with regard to things that were in phase 2 (either part): do I take the bus to the outdoor farmers market? Is Trader Joe's too high a risk? (Groceries are essential businesses, but we've been getting all our groceries delivered, with the exception of the pastries I bought when I was in Davis Square on Thursday to see my doctor.

Tracking all this is complicated in part because what is in which phase, and how many phases there are, varies widely. At first glance Massachusetts has a four-phase plan. But phase 2 was divided into two steps, and phase 3 will have at least two parts. And then -- I hope -- we wait for a vaccine or real treatment for COVID-19 before moving into a "new normal" that will still involve less physical contact with other people than in the Before Times.

I put on a mask this morning, watered the plants (calling hello to a neighbor who was exercising several yards away) and went for a walk around the neighborhood. In Belmont masks are strongly advised when going for a walk, but required only indoors or anywhere you can't maintain social distancing; I'm wearing mine even when it's not required, if I go further than the yard or front porch.

zoom gaming

Someone else's post about how much they'd done yesterday reminded me to note this:

I played Boggle and hung around for low-key conversation over Zoom with cattitude, quility, and some of Quility's Minneapolis friends for a little over an hour yesterday. Then I went and read my book, while they played for another hour+. I bailed because I was yawning, and we'd reached a sensible pause. (I warned everyone up front that I probably wasn't up for two and a half hours of Zoom gaming, and asked to play something where one game ends relatively quickly. Two weeks ago they gamed without me and spent three hours on a single game--which isn't flawed, but if they'd wanted to do that I'd excused myself rather than half to drop out mid-game when it might be inconvenient.