Hi all.
The COVID-19 came sharply into my tiny corner of the world this week when our bridge session was impacted dramatically because our host’s grandson was quarantined after his football teammate had tested positive. She had not seen the boy, but she had been in close contact with her daughter. I was  most unclear about whether I should stay well away or assume that the contact was too distant from me to impact my world.

Without knowing any details, and reading such conflicting information in the media, it was a pure guess. Soon I fear are all going to have similar dilemnas about whether we should stay home or come to bridge. Do we wait to see if we have got it? Can we pass it even if we only distantly might be exposed? What if I don’t get symptoms might I still pass something on?

Being forced to make decisions with limited, incomplete information is a bit the nature of this entire situation, but on the rights and wrongs of whether to play or not to play – for many the pendulum swings from forthright defiance to over-cautious hibernation. For those of us in the middle it is the indecision or second guessing our choices that drives us mad. Not to mention fear of how we will be judged if we get it wrong.

I would like to suggest that we are all in this together. That we can all get onboard with those who believe life must go on, and allay the fears of those who are thoroughly spooked.

And the way we can do that is by agreeing to all keep coming to play because we adopt the new practices listed below.

WASH.WIPE.PLAY - have a look at what I would like to propose to each bridge player and say let's do this and all try to keep playing bridge though this time.

I’m not for a moment saying to avoid government and health professional advice. Rather I’m advocating that in addition to those instructions we can all keep playing bridge without any pause for concern if we suspend some of our old bridge habits Ie doing our bit to keep the critters at bay until they pack their bags and leave for their summer vacation.

While information suggests this is not an airborn virus, these measures are designed to help us be safe and comfortable to keep playing together.

And we can adapt further if we need to.

See you at a club soon and hopefully continuedly after that! 

Stay healthy and safe

 

Nicole