States are reopening. As a nurse who takes care of COVID, how do you personally feel about going out and seeing people?

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I can’t figure out how to change my handle, but I’ve now been a nurse for 4 years, and I’m the ED for 2. I of course see positive COVID patients, but I always wear the proper PPE, don and doffing appropriately, change out of my scrubs at work, and shower as soon as I get home. Other than work, I’ve left my house very minimally and only saw a few select people from over 6 feet away. I’ve done my best to follow all state guidelines.

The area where I live is starting phased reopening next week. I already have been invited to a (very small) family gathering after that time. I know most people in my life will very cautiously start to begin some sort of normal life. But my question for my fellow nurses is this: as someone who takes care of COVID patients, at what point will you be comfortable being around others either in your family or in the community? I know we can be seeing COVID patients for the next few months if not years and isolating for that whole span would obviously not be feasible.

It's like a soda bottle that got shaken up. You open it a little and let some of the gas out, but not too much or you get sprayed. So you open, you tighten, you open you tighten. Some soda leaks out no matter how careful you are.

We will open things up, cases will go up, hospitalizations and deaths will go up, and then some things will close back down. I think we have months of this dance ahead.

Our COVID cases are going down, and hopefully my hospital will open up to some of the surgeries again, and we'll be able to find a new normal. I fully expect to see COVID cases go up after restrictions loosen up next week, but hopefully not as many as we originally saw. Even at the peak, my hospital wasn't overwhelmed. We flattened the curve, and that's about the best we can do.

From what I can see, people are taking social distancing seriously. People are wiping down grocery carts, wearing masks, staying a reasonable distance from others. From what I've seen on the news, there are places where people are being purposefully risky as a political statement, but I haven't seen any of that sort of foolishness here.

For my family, we will see a few select friends and family in small numbers, and with much lower frequency than in the past. Fortunately, the weather is nicer, so we can socialize outside. Next week DD's daycare opens back up with reduced numbers and increased precautions. I will be sending her and going back to work. She won't be there full time, but she'll go. ODS's Boy Scout trip and camp were cancelled today, so he currently has no Summer plans. YDS is signed up for 2 weeks of day camp, and we'll decide on sending him or not based on what adaptations are made. We are still in a holding pattern regarding vacations. It's so hard to plan anything because I just don't know the state of travel or travel restrictions two months from now.

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As someone working on a covid+ unit, I'm not in a huge hurry to resume my social life as my state begins opening up again. I worry that I could be one of those asymptomatic carriers despite using PPE each time I enter a patient room, even though nobody else in my family has had any symptoms. I would feel much more comfortable resuming some semblance of a normal life if a) we had the capacity to test everyone working with covid+ patients on a regular and frequent basis and b) if we had a more consistent and reliable treatment plan for patients with COVID-19. Until that happens, I would feel more comfortable keeping my circle extremely small.

My husband, on the other hand, is an enormous extrovert who hasn't been able to work (in-home sales) for the past two months and he is chomping at the bit to get together with our close friends. I'm content to maintain connections with my friends via text, zoom, phone or email. He craves the in-person contact and really struggles with these alternate forms of socialization. I want to wait a little bit longer before we start having friends over or sharing food and drinks in close quarters as prolonged, close contact appears to be one of the main modes of transmission.

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Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.

I have had nightmares every night this week about being out in public with no mask, hugging people that then tell me they have been sick and that family members have died. I am not ready.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

I hope non of these people get sick or die. I also hope no one else thinks a party with more than 100 attendees is OK now.

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Larger gatherings are still prohibited under strict coronavirus stay-at-home orders.

But that didn’t stop a raging house party Saturday night in the Hollywood Hills that ended when, police say, a man accidentally shot himself in the groin. Officers received a complaint of a loud party at 1410 Miller Drive at about 11 p.m., said Los Angeles Police Lt. Mark Chong.

When they responded, they found that more than 100 people were gathered at a short-term-rental property that appeared to have been reserved for the occasion, he said...

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-05-17/raging-hollywood-hills-house-party-amid-coronavirus-ends-when-man-shoots-himself-in-groin-police-say

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Specializes in Quality Management.

What to do Well it’s a personal decision on how much risk you put others in. I too work with covid19 pts and me I am not going closer than 6 ft with my elderly folks. I haven’t sat down for dinner with them since feb. Yes states are reopening and until there’s a vaccine I am not willing to put my parents lives at risk. So we make do with FaceTime and phone calls. I wished I too had the chance to just stay inside but I don’t so I shower and wash scrubs everyday and even change at work plastic bagging shoes and scrubs to take home. Best of luck

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