If covid didn’t exist, you haven’t given us enough information to answer your question. I’d need to know more about the nature of your relationship with each group, and what sort of plans group A had.
But I’m not going to ask you the specific questions that would help me give you that advice. Because I’m too freaked out by your plans, given that covid does, in face, exist.
I listed my complete list of social contacts since March to give you a sense of what this means to many of us. For comparison, I used to hang out with social group A every Tuesday night, with social group B every Sunday evening, and social group C about every other week. Oh, and social group D meet about twice a month to watch videos together, but we finished our last series and were looking for something new to watch. I also used to travel a lot. Right now my calendar tells me I had planned to visit Jerusalem. I have also cancelled trips to Denver, Indianapolis, lake Winnepasauke, NH, and Salem, MA. Yesterday I corresponded with my doctor about the safety and considerations around hugging my elderly mother.
And as long as people like you are ignoring the pandemic and spreading it, people like me need to continue hiding in our homes.
And I realize that it’s unlikely to kill you outright this year, given your age. But there’s growing evidence that even mild infections lead to scarring of the lungs and heart, with uncertain implications for your lifetime health. There are stories of people with a very mild case who find they can no longer scuba dive, for instance.
I don’t like to be the cranky old nag. But I’m owning it this time. Educate yourself, stay safe, and don’t spread it to me, please.
I’ll give you an estimate of my friend group sizes, along with explaining our potential plans as well:
Group A: 2 people
Group B: 7 to 10 people
Group C: 7 to 10 people
All of these groups will not exceed more than 10 people.
Furthermore, due to the virus, a majority of college students, who still live off campus, have been throwing small hangouts/kickbacks (with close friends only) ever since they were sent home after spring break.
Even though I’m still putting myself at risk, my parents surprisingly agreed to let me hang out with my friends, as long as I socially distance and wear my mask when needed. I’m also 22 years old, just to give you more of an insight.
On an extra note, the virus is less likely to spread rapidly throughout my college since a majority of classes are online, along with being located in a small, rural town as well.
That’s like saying, “If gravity didn’t exist, would it be okay if I jumped off the top of my 25-story apartment building?” You’re ignoring THE primary fact of life in today’s reality that should be front and center in your decision-making process. The idea of socializing with ANY groups right now without masks (or even with masks IMHO) because you’re comfortable with it is, in a word, nuts. You really don’t comprehend what’s going on in the world today, do you? Lordy, lordy.
Are all of you intending to leave this gathering, go straight home in private transport to homes in which nobody other than you lives, and stay there alone or only with others who were at the gathering for the next two weeks?
If not, your friends being comfortable with this has nothing to do with it. All of you are risking other people.
First, let me say I agree absolutely with other posters who have said “just don’t do it! It’s nuts given how things are currently! You don’t have the right to add risk to others’ lives because you would like to socialize with friends”. Ok, now I’m done saying that.
Since you asked, I would go with the strategies in the quote included above in my reply box. I don’t think you need to schedule another visit to hang out with B or C. Among other things, that adds that much more risks to the risk pool inherent in travel.
I’d suggest not asking group A if you could spend some time with friends from B and C but instead inform them that you will be doing so while you are there. Let A know you will be doing this so A can plan accordingly, that is only polite and considerate. BTW, I would also let B and C your intentions so they can also plan and know what to anticipate.
Have some fall back ideas about what-to-do-if? Even without a pandemic your hoped for plans might be hard to pull off, for many and mundane reasons. Can your travel tickets or expenses be refundable? What if your job requires you shuffle your plans? Any number of things.
Oh, yeah. Bring a box of adequately protective masks to ask your friends to protect all of you and by extension, the rest of us. Enjoy your friends and your time together, but please do it masked, outdoors and yes, also 6 feet apart.
Hope this helps. It is offered in the spirit with which I think it was asked for.
I’m confused. You said in an earlier post, “We probably won’t wear masks because we are all aware of the rules and none of us have gotten sick, yet.”
So you’re saying it’s OK because your parents are all right with you being there because you’d mask up and social distance, but you’re not REALLY going to mask up and social distance???
It may not spread as rapidly, but it’s still going to spread if the majority of students think it’s OK to get together as long as it’s in small groups of friends. And just FYI, small rural towns are getting hit now. Small, rural college towns tend to have a lot of people coming and going, so they’re at even greater risk.
I know you’re probably going to ignore the advice here because friends. But I hope you’ll at least think about it because you should know you’re apt to make a lot of people sick, and not just the people in other age groups you and your friends are in contact with. The number of young adults getting serious cases of COVID is rising.