The gradual reopening of Colorado continues and now small gatherings are allowed, albeit with many recommended safeguards. This change, coupled with our own reading of the advice of various experts (see below), led us to decide it was safe to see a few close friends in outdoor settings. Within days we had a series of three separate friends stop by and sit on the patio to chat with us. Mostly we wore masks and stayed six feet (well, maybe sometimes four) and we never hugged or touched, but, my, it was grand to sit in the beautiful outdoors in our comfy chairs and just talk face to face with our chums!
This "opening up" was also very timely as Ben and his good friend Raymond turned 65 last Thursday and we wanted to do something special to celebrate. What better way than to get together for a patio dinner? Their other long-time friend, Bob, served as host so there were six of us together for the happy event.
Being very careful, Bob decreased the amount of communal sharing by having each couple sit at their own table and asking them to bring their own appetizers and cocktails. Each table got a box of the delicious kale salad we all love from a local restaurant and the meal of steak and corn on the cob was served on plates directly from the grill. Instead of a cake I made birthday cupcakes. It was all a bit strange at first but it wasn't long before we relaxed and were eating and drinking and celebrating just like old times.
The next night the two birthday boys had a special dinner of caviar and crab bombs, this time on Ray's patio following much of the same protocol. It looks like this will be the pattern for our social gatherings this summer, and it is sure a step above the Zoom cocktail hours we've been having. We're calling this type of socializing "yardies."
On Memorial Day we had Ben's brother and his family over for a BBQ supper. We weren't as strict about the protocol but we did make sure that most of the windows in the house were opened so the air could circulate well and some of us spent most of our time on the patio. Since the nearby cemetery didn't have its usual memorial decoration of flags for the veterans, I put some small flags up around the house which was not only festive but reminded us of the reason for the day. As a private observance, Ben and I watched a couple episodes of the WWII series, Band of Brothers.
In general Boulder County hasn't suffered as much from the virus as the rest of the state. Today's "dashboard" shows that Colorado has had 24,565 cases and 1,352, deaths and that Boulder County accounts for just 941 cases and 63 deaths. In general people here are fairly compliant with the recommendations for social distancing, though a popular stretch of Boulder Creek had to be closed after hundreds of young adults partied hard there right after CU's virtual graduation day and before the Memorial Day weekend.
On Monday Colorado announced that restaurants could begin reopening today with many restrictions about capacity, etc. And last night Ben and I got very excited to see that one of our favorite places was taking reservations. We made one for next Monday. But this morning I read an article in the Denver Post about how models for the virus in our state this summer were showing that the ability of our medical system to handle the increase of cases expected as the state moved from 80% social distancing to the 55% or 60% needed to get folks back to work was contingent on all people over 60 years old maintaining that 80%. Here's the passage that really hit home to me:
“If all adults over 60 maintained 80% social distancing levels — the same as under the stay-at-home order — then hospital capacity would not be exceeded if the rest of the population hit 65% and 55% distancing levels. If half of older adults stayed at 80% distancing, ICU bed needs would still be topped even if the rest of the state maintained 65%, 55% or 45% levels, the modeling shows.”
In other words, all of us retired folks here in Colorado need to do our civic duty and continue with our social distancing for the summer. With a sad heart I cancelled our dinner reservation.
But later, on my early morning walk with Turbo, I realized and appreciated how lucky we are to be alive. Not only alive, but to have enough. Enough outdoor beauty, enough great restaurants doing curbside pickups, enough grocery stores full of the abundance of the summer, enough good friends and family close by, and finally, enough money to contribute a bit to help others who don't have this abundance. For we all know now that the medical crisis is not the only hardship the virus is delivering. There is also the economic crisis and many people do and will need help to survive it.
Experts:
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