COVID-19 Shelter In Place Gives Rise To 'Quaran-Teaming' And 'Double Bubble'
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- The coronavirus outbreak has introduced many new terms into our daily vocabulary. Take 'quaran-teaming' and 'double bubble' for sheltering in place families as examples.
'Quaran-teaming' is loosely defined as a group of people you choose to live with during the pandemic. Two months into sheltering in place, some families are thinking about a similar strategy to make things work.
Working parents are calling it the 'Double Bubble'. It's two families sheltering in their own homes, but are now starting to relax some of the restrictions.
One example is dropping off your children at the other family's home to go grocery shopping or presenting a work project via Zoom when children in the background yelling would be distracting to the rest of your co-workers.
Medical experts say there is some risk, but parents are saying it's one path that could work.
"It's a challenge trying to get work done and living at home and making meals," said Wendy Lieu, who runs a small business in San Francisco making chocolate at Socolat Chocolatier.
Lieu juggles duties as a mom of two young children while also readying her business to re-open when the green light is given.
"If families have been sheltering in place and quarantining as much as possible, this could be a way to free up a little time to get work done," said Lieu.
"In a sense it's no different than if we all lived in the same home because we all started this together in the journey," Tanum Davis-Bohen added.
Six weeks into quarantine, Davis-Bohen, who works as a consultant in Menlo Park and is full-time mom, also decided to 'double bubble.'
"Very early on the conversations we had as we were creating this circle around us were, 'Who goes to the supermarket? What types of rules are you following? Do you let other people into your home?" said Davis-Bohen.
Infectious disease specialist and professor of medicine at UCSF Dr. Peter Chin-Hong recognizes both the pros and cons.
"If you start introducing new people into that closed unit then you don't know where those people have been or going to after," said Chin-Hong.
"You've got to have some sort of balance. I'm taking safety for my people, which is my family and safety for my community seriously," said Jeff Schlarb, a father of two girls.
"It just made us feel like we were not alone," said Davis-Bohen.
"I am trying my best as a parent and making the best informed decisions that I'm ok with," said Schlarb.
Sociologists at Oxford say quarantine bubbles can work in a recently published paper.
"There must be a middle ground between all of us staying at home and all of us meeting the people we want in the ways we want to."
