Quiz #54. The Weakest Link
Would you want me on your team in Call of Duty? More pandemic lessons from video games in Steve's Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz for May 17, 2020.
As I get ready to start my 11th week of working from home, like many of us, I am trying to make sense of what’s ahead on this Sunday, May 17th.
When will it be safe for me to go back to work in New York City?
When will it be safe for people who left New York City to move back in?
How can people safely go to the shore next weekend with the start of Memorial Day?
I can’t answer these universal questions--and if I have learned anything in these last two months, it’s that I should not even try. So let me just talk about what I know about me.
As noted in Answer #6. “How You Doin’?” on March 19th, early on in this pandemic, my daughter Annie told me that I needed to up my handwashing game.
The truth is that I am not a big handwasher. When the pandemic first started, I told Sara and Will that I’d never washed my hands so much in my whole life. When I added that I was now washing my hands three times a day, they both broke out in laughter. Clarifying for them that this was three times beyond those times when “I went to the bathroom” did not help. For them, three times beyond such trips was on the low side--even for a pandemic. Sara observed that in our quarantine life, I was the weakest link--and no one disagreed (including me).
Two months in, I remain the weakest link. Even my weak handwashing game has faded. Even though I have nothing but time, it bores me to stand there and wash my hands for the required, full 20 seconds. I’m sorry to say that I am back to a quick wash, a little soap, a little water after every trip to the bathroom--with no extra handwashing beyond the required pit stops.
The daily temperature checks. Stopped. My last one was on May 7th. I feel ok and have not been inside a store since March 13th. I only leave the house for dog walks. I wear a mask and keep my social distance. I don’t feel invincible, but I feel safe--and am no longer worried each day that a cough might be a sign that I’m infected with coronavirus.
My biggest outside adventure in the last two weeks has been 3 trips to the town dump. (They call it a “Conservation Center”--but it’s really a dump. The place to dump your garden refuse from grass clippings to sawed-off limbs.) We signed up for our permit through the mail and you can drive in with the windows up. Today, Sara even came with me to unload our van after a weekend of gardening and cutting back some shrubs. Our first trip in the van together in more than 2 months. We backed up the van with the back opening into the large, central pile of the town’s garden refuse, more than 15 feet from the nearest vehicle. After the dump, we drove around to see local stores, shocked to see so many people shopping, especially at an outdoor garden center. Signs called for social distancing, but it did not look that way from the street.
Sunday morning, I read an article I found from CNBC with “Tips for Running Errands” by Cory Stieg. The central point was that in New York, two-thirds of the new coronavirus cases had come from people who had “stayed at home.” A central observation from Dr. Josepn Vinetz, Professor of Medicine at Yale, a scientist in infectious diseases.
Just because we’re tired doesn’t mean that the virus cares. Viruses have no emotions; they just do their thing.
Note to self: Listen to Annie and Sara. Up the handwashing game. 20 seconds, I promise. Extra trips to the sink for soap and water. Don’t be the weakest link.
The Stieg article had extra tips from experts on staying safe while venturing out.
When you wear a mask, wash your hands as soon as you take it off. Who knew? Guilty as charged. Weakest link.
Despite my mask, I am “the weakest link.”
Stieg also spoke with Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University, who focuses on risk assessment of infectious diseases.
One of his central cautions is not putting too much faith in simply keeping six feet apart from other people. His point is that six feet is meant as a general guideline, based on how far droplets can fall. His overall advice:
Keep out of what he called “the line of breath.”
Stagger how you’re walking so you’re side-by-side with others--and not directly behind someone.
Avoid eye contact.
It sounds strange, but it (avoiding eye contact) keeps you out of people’s line of breath.
Think about that. Avoid eye contact. That’s advice I had not heard, but it takes social distancing to a whole new level. “Line of breath” feels a lot like “line of fire.”
Saturday afternoon, I asked John and Will to teach me how to play video games on xbox. They taught me the basics of Call of Duty. I know that I'm out of the demo, but I just wanted to get a taste of the game. Plus, firing a gun and chasing after people didn’t seem like such a bad idea after two months of suburban, stay-at-home life.
The xbox controller has about a dozen different things you can press, pull and manipulate--from buttons to triggers to joysticks. With no instruction manual, John set me up in a practice room where I could work on the basics. The xbox would give me a basic voice command--and I’d have to figure out how to do each task--with no one chasing me and no one firing at me. Without John showing me which button to press, which trigger to pull and which joystick to manipulate, I would have been lost. Still, after about 15 minutes, I had the basics. I could walk around, fire my weapon and pick up other weapons, cash and supplies each player “finds” in the game.
The two central controls are joysticks that you manipulate with your thumbs. The one on the left moves you forward and back, left and right while the one on the right moves you from looking up and to looking down. You can move them together, but it felt really awkward. With my right thumb, I was whiplashing myself like a drunken soldier on a bar stool, struggling before I could move forward with my left thumb that required me to get level and look straight before moving. Contorted at the waist, unable to move, I was stuck in place. Imagine one of those long, thin blow-up figures used for advertising. Google calls them “air dancers.”
That’s me in the middle. Bent at the waist—and stuck in place.
John and Will helped to launch me into a basic solo game. 150 players. All just trying to stay alive. Kill or be killed. It was not pretty--and it was not easy.
Everything required eye contact. Picking up an extra weapon on the ground required that I figure how to move toward it--and then look down at it and, oh yes, click the X button. Firing my gun required me to look at my target, adjusting my line of sight from up and down--and left to right. Will watched me play and said my reflexes were good. He said that I could sense and see other players, but observed that I still couldn't figure out how to fire back at any target. Why? I could not figure out how to look at them. My shots were always off the mark. For me, my inability to make eye contact kept getting me killed. On the sidewalks of New York, it might help save my life.
As discussed in Quiz #52. PTFO, there are team war games on xbox--none more popular than Call of Duty. Without being told, I knew that I wasn’t ready for that. Without a word from John and Will, I knew I’d be the weakest link.
What did NOT happen?
A. On Saturday morning, I had a group phone call with my siblings. I did not take notes as I did for Quiz #51 Is Your Father Named Stewart?, but after the call, my brother Richard texted me a picture of a hat with a seagull on it;
B. In helping me learn how to play Call of Duty on Saturday, John joked “In the last two months, I’ve been to more places in Verdansk than in real life;”
C. More than several people commented that in the last several quizzes, I neglected to bold the correct answer in the “Answer” email. Sorry about that. The correct answers are bolded on the website;
D. On Saturday, we had a socially distant visit with Betsy in the backyard. She delivered some paper towels that she was able to buy that morning at a grocery store in Hoboken;
E. On Sunday, Will taught me a new cooking trick. When heating up leftover pizza, use a frying pan. It heats up the crust and melts the cheese.
Want the answer?
If you’re a subscriber, the answer will be sent to you as a separate email when the question is published.
Want more?
Here’s the next quiz in the series: Quiz #55. No Spitting.
Here’s the previous quiz in the series: Quiz #53. This Bud’s For You.
Here’s the first quiz in the series: Quiz #1. Stella and Social Distancing, March 13, 2020
Here is an archive of all the quizzes.
The quiz is explained here: Steve’s Stay-at-Home Coronavirus Quiz.
Want to let me know how I’m doing with this quiz?
Please let me know about any typos or misspellings.
Comments, corrections and confessions welcome.
Thank you and good night.
Thanks for reading.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for commenting.