Like ‘Peeps’ in a Pod

From the University of Michigan Wellness web page:

For many Americans, life in the time of COVID-19 means forming “pods” – small groups of people who agree to share child care and education responsibilities, or to study or socialize together.

The Brumby Road Pod is a pretty exclusive one. It contains Stoker, Luke, 7 goldfish named for the days of the week (Sunday, Monday…) and Rich. Any invaders to the Pod are confronted with masks, sanitizer and social distancing.

Within the Pod, we interact freely unless I make some kind of husband mistake and Stoker decides to practice a little social distancing of her own. In 38 years of marriage this has been a rare occurrence, but it does happen.

Now there are two other kinds of groups we need to be aware of in these Covid times. First we have our ‘Peeps’. These are folks we interact with on a regular basis, but who are not in our Pod. My personal set of Peeps includes my parents, Stockton Bike Club Tuesday/Thursday regulars and management at the walnut company where I am occasionally employed.

In set theory terms, the Pod is a subset of the Peeps. Pay attention, there will be a quiz later.

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Now we are suppose to practice all the distancing, hand washing, masking and sanitizing routine with our Peeps, but this is very difficult. I give it my best shot. But on Friday Stoker and I went to a restaurant across the border in Sacramento County, where you can actually sit inside at a table. And we had lunch with 4 of our Peeps. This is the first time in a year we have done something like that.

Now when you venture out to the locations where you normally shop, work and recreate, you are in your ‘Hood’. The Hood and the people in it form a superset of your Peeps, which is a superset of your Pod. Got that?

In the Hood the CDC would like you to wear every piece of PPE known to man. Two masks, preferably with one of N95 quality. Treat everyone as if they are giving off radiation at fatal levels for a radius of 6 feet. Take a bath in sanitizer as soon as you are back in the safety of the Pod. It is occasionally necessary to leave the Pod and enter the Hood, but we are supposed to keep such excursions as short in duration and as few in number as possible.

The Hood is the extent of the range our infectious disease bureaucrats allow us, grudgingly, to move around in. Travel outside the Hood is unnecessary so we aren’t suppose to do it lest we spread the virus to other Hoods, or acquire the virus and bring it back to our hitherto virus-free Hood. And then spread it to some of our Peeps, or even into the sanctity of the Pod.

I thought I had some Peeps in a Hood in France to supplement the Brumby Road/ Linden Hood. But our postponed 2020 trip, which we rescheduled for May/June 2021, just got cancelled. On Easter Sunday! Peep, peep, peep!