Assessing risk: Have you changed your weekend plans since the pandemic

A Texas Medical Association chart breaks down the risk of activities you might do this weekend or soon this summer. It includes going to a bars or amusement parks as high risk, hugging or shaking hands as pretty risky, sending kids to school or going to a library as a little risky, and it’s less risky to open the mail or go to the beach.

We asked many of you if the pandemic has changed your weekend plans drastically, and 70% of poll takers said yes, and the other 30% said no Friday.

We spoke to a Southwest Florida mom about the obstacles to keep her family safe during the pandemic while also allowing for some fun on the weekend.

Keeping a nine and four-year-old boy busy on a regular weekend is not easy. Now, try keeping them busy and safe during a pandemic.

“It’s stressful,” mother Samantha Davis said. “I have two boys. My youngest, he likes to wrestle. He likes to do cartwheels. He just touches everything.”

Davis told us planning her boy’s weekends involves riding bikes, the backyard pool and a lot of family time.

“I never really like to take them out,” Davis said.

We asked Bindu Mayi, Ph.D., a professor of microbiology at Nova Southeastern University, about some of the activities involved in the chart and weighing the risks in involved.

How do you plan a safe weekend in the middle of a pandemic? How about meeting up with a friend?

“A couple of things to remember there — those two friends — do they have any underlying conditions?” Bindu said.

Where are you going?

“Is community transmission high where you are?” Bindu said. “If you are going to a restaurant, you are better off sitting outside, but maybe do a drive by and see how good people are about social distancing, wearing masks, things like that.”

Physician’s on the Texas Medical Association COVID-19 task force ranked how risky some of those everyday activities are in the U.S. right now. All the activities they ranked assume the risk for people when they are wearing mask when possible and social distancing.

“It’s just really hard,” Davis said. “And I can only imagine the moms of younger children right now. Like, it’s hard, very hard.”