Discussions abt safe ("safe") COVID behavior, even among people who know it's real and dangerous, sometimes feel at odds.

It feels like arguing abt "finances" but one person arguing abt adjusting spending habits & the other bringing up overdraft alerts. Here's what I mean:

First, outside of strict quarantine there's no definitely "safe" or "unsafe" way to exist outside your household. Every prevention and barrier is imperfect but luckily it additive!

Still, it only takes one failure (known or unknown) to cause in an individual getting COVID-19

Second, again outside of strict, universal quarantine, these behaviors & recommended actions (personal or communal) are going to remain the same. We can do them better (masking) harder (fewer trips to the grocery store) etc.

But as we know the pandemic is NOT staying the same.

So a finances example. Super broadly, you can think finances in several ways that are all simultaneously true, but specifically different.

First, you can think abt an annual or monthly income (always coming in, always going out).

If you are trying to be money-conscious, and you are thinking in terms of income (sometimes more, sometimes less, but relatively constant) then you might focus on your spending HABITS.

Little adjustments here and there that, in sum, SHOULD help!

Second, you may view finances as a fixed, defined amount of money you have set aside. Key word: fixed.

If you have a particular amount of money on hand, then you wouldn't focus on habits, behavior over time.

You focus on what to do NOW! Right now! We're about to overdraft!

So in this example: if "finances/money/resources" is "health" or more specifically "COVID-19 free existence" then even if everyone agrees COVID is real, dangerous, and worth avoiding…

… if there's a disconnect about the immediacy of the which/when/how strictly of behaviors.

To be honest, there's a HUGE amount of stress within families, couples, roommates about how people are choosing to "stay COVID safe."

And I think this is what is boils down to:

How at risk are we based on what I'm doing RIGHT NOW? vs. What should we be doing most of the time?