The NY Times yesterday published an article about Pandemic Fatigue [1]. People are going out, meeting people, and generally risking contracting the virus because they’re tired of sheltering in place.

I have avoided Pandemic Fatigue by doing new things every day. And when doing new things indoors itself became monotonous, we picked up and moved across the country. In a new city, nothing is monotonous. Even locating the nearest blue mailbox is an exciting scavenger hunt.

The move, however, was NOT pandemic-safe. I went to the vet to get a health certificate for our cat. Bought moving boxes and donated furniture and goods to the local Goodwill. Sold furniture on Craigslist, Nextdoor, and Facebook Marketplace. All of this involved meeting with people. I wore a mask for each encounter, but I talked with more people than I had since March when the pandemic began.

Once the movers took all of our items (one of the movers forgot his mask, but I gave him one of my homemade ones!), we took a Lyft to a hotel. Talked with the receptionist to get our hotel key. Took a shuttle from the hotel to the airport. Talked with some TSA agents (who were pretty chill and pleasant, since it was pretty empty in there!).

Got on the first plane, which was packed full. Some people weren’t wearing their masks correctly: only covering their mouths and not their noses. Some people were wearing handkerchiefs instead of masks. And there was maybe even a valve mask in there (!).

We had a long stop over so my partner could take work meetings in the middle of the day. I talked with the bagel guy at the airport, so I could get a sandwich. Talked with the woman at the convenience shop, so I could get some peanuts (she also showed me photos of her raised garden beds). Got on a second plane, which was also packed full.

On the other side, we talked with the rental car folks. Then lots and lots of apartment leasing agents. Then car dealers. Then some friendly DMV agents, to get my driver license updated.

We’ve been wearing masks whenever we go out. We have two N95 masks, which we use in more risky situations, like getting on an airplane.

So, we’ve avoided Pandemic Fatigue by doing lots of risky things as we moved across the country. Maybe we haven’t really avoided Pandemic Fatigue. Maybe we just interacted with a bunch of strangers and fueled ourselves for the next six months of lockdown.

And, with a new house to set up, decorate, and make into a home, we’ve got plenty of stuff to do indoors (and outdoors in our new backyard) that isn’t just more of the same.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/17/us/coronavirus-pandemic-fatigue.html

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