What’s the COVID risk?
September 13, 2020 4:02 AM Subscribe
Anonymous for detail. What is our risk of getting COVID on our roof deck in Boston? Details within...
We live in Boston and have a roof deck. Our neighbors also have one and based on the density of our South Boston neighborhood, are rather close. Our decks are about 15 feet apart.
I am immunocompromised and our roof deck had been my oasis, especially since our neighbors never used theirs. Until this week!
A bunch of bros moved in and it’s party central over there. If there are 2-6 of them yelling maskless on their deck and we are on ours also maskless what would be the risk? I am terrified that we might live next to a superspreader house in the making with all the partying. They don’t wear masks coming and going from their house and frequent bars and ubers.
Talking to them didn’t work and we are not moving because we own our house and have invested significant money in renovating. Really my only option is to just go in when they are out there. :(. I guess I’m trying to understand risk for me as someone who is vulnerable due to not really having an immune system due to an inflammatory disorder. Also tried using our deck at weird times (like 6am) and one always is up there on the phone even then or having coffee or beer or what have you. I also tried wearing a mask myself but this is literally the only fresh air I’m getting mostly due to our community sucking safety wise.
We live in Boston and have a roof deck. Our neighbors also have one and based on the density of our South Boston neighborhood, are rather close. Our decks are about 15 feet apart.
I am immunocompromised and our roof deck had been my oasis, especially since our neighbors never used theirs. Until this week!
A bunch of bros moved in and it’s party central over there. If there are 2-6 of them yelling maskless on their deck and we are on ours also maskless what would be the risk? I am terrified that we might live next to a superspreader house in the making with all the partying. They don’t wear masks coming and going from their house and frequent bars and ubers.
Talking to them didn’t work and we are not moving because we own our house and have invested significant money in renovating. Really my only option is to just go in when they are out there. :(. I guess I’m trying to understand risk for me as someone who is vulnerable due to not really having an immune system due to an inflammatory disorder. Also tried using our deck at weird times (like 6am) and one always is up there on the phone even then or having coffee or beer or what have you. I also tried wearing a mask myself but this is literally the only fresh air I’m getting mostly due to our community sucking safety wise.
Everything we know* about spread suggests the risks of transmission in the situation you describe are very, very low. You're more then 10 feet apart and you're outside. That would be sufficient for me, but we all get to decide our own risks, of course. Given your health situation, I understand that you have a reasonable desire to be very careful. However, it's also worth considering the relative risk of this compared to the other risks you take in your life. COVID-19 is a deadly disease and it's reasonable to take precautions against it (and the behavior of your neighbors makes me furious), but everything we know* about the transmission of the disease suggests that the risk of it being transmitted in the situation you describe may be less than the risk of, say, you falling down the stairs on the way up to the roof deck.
*Caveat: We don't know everything and all scientific knowledge is provisional.
posted by Betelgeuse at 5:17 AM on September 13, 2020 [15 favorites]
*Caveat: We don't know everything and all scientific knowledge is provisional.
posted by Betelgeuse at 5:17 AM on September 13, 2020 [15 favorites]
Would some sort of deck privacy separator do the trick? Some sort of physical barrier that could act as a sort of deck-sized mask barrier?
It sounds like by being 10+ feet apart and outside and if you are wearing a mask and there is a physical barrier of some sort between you and the bros that you could have a situation that is very very low risk.
Easy Ways to Add Privacy to a Deck or Patio - pictures.
posted by forkisbetter at 5:39 AM on September 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
It sounds like by being 10+ feet apart and outside and if you are wearing a mask and there is a physical barrier of some sort between you and the bros that you could have a situation that is very very low risk.
Easy Ways to Add Privacy to a Deck or Patio - pictures.
posted by forkisbetter at 5:39 AM on September 13, 2020 [7 favorites]
Completely agree with Betelgeuse above, but another reason it's VERY SAFE is that not only is transmission chance low (you getting enough tiny droplets in your lungs to overcome your system at that distance, even if they were spitting in your direction, is less than 0.1%) but also, in Boston, there is about a 0.29% chance that any of them have Covid. Maybe both of those numbers seem high together, but since they are independent chances, the odds are actually around 0.02% of transmission, or if you went out every day for 13 years in this situation, you might catch it on one of the days in 13 years.
I really like this Covid tracker which is where I got my numbers from. I think they are overly conservative (IE, multiplying the case rate by ~5 for undertesting)
posted by bbqturtle at 7:19 AM on September 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
I really like this Covid tracker which is where I got my numbers from. I think they are overly conservative (IE, multiplying the case rate by ~5 for undertesting)
posted by bbqturtle at 7:19 AM on September 13, 2020 [4 favorites]
Love the windsock idea. Though as long as the air is moving that is probably pretty protective regardless. If it's a relatively still day can you set up a fan or something to help keep the air moving, too?
I would be uncomfortable having them around too, especially being loud and shouty. I'm sorry. It's probably not "high risk" but I would be using the deck more when there are 1-2 of them out there taking on the phone and less when they are, like, singing or shouting in a crowd.
posted by Lady Li at 8:09 AM on September 13, 2020
I would be uncomfortable having them around too, especially being loud and shouty. I'm sorry. It's probably not "high risk" but I would be using the deck more when there are 1-2 of them out there taking on the phone and less when they are, like, singing or shouting in a crowd.
posted by Lady Li at 8:09 AM on September 13, 2020
Ugh. I agree with everyone else that your risk is probably very low, but it would bug me, too. A windsock and a privacy screen, maybe even with plexiglass, sound like a good solution.
Frankly, it would probably be good for your mental health to block off the view of those idiots anyway.
posted by rpfields at 9:07 AM on September 13, 2020 [8 favorites]
Frankly, it would probably be good for your mental health to block off the view of those idiots anyway.
posted by rpfields at 9:07 AM on September 13, 2020 [8 favorites]
We don't know everything and all scientific knowledge is provisional.
Yeah, that is exactly why I don't feel like I can figure out for myself how safe anything is.
On a related note: I am on the first floor and I had to stop going out on my patio because my nearest neighbor (who I can't fence off from me or in any way block off due to fire code, per management) is either smoking or deliberately going outside to sneeze, cough, and hock loogies. He was doing it a few times daily until the fires. After reading things about how droplets travel 27 feet, I straight up do not feel okay going outside with him.
However, that's a first floor and not a windy roof. I don't know the scientific ventilation of a roof deck and air rushing around. That might be what you want to look into here, if anything. It's probably low risk, but how much risk do you feel like taking when the stakes are this high? And how pleasant is it to go outside with a bunch of drunk bros always out there? That's up to you to figure out.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:10 PM on September 13, 2020
Yeah, that is exactly why I don't feel like I can figure out for myself how safe anything is.
On a related note: I am on the first floor and I had to stop going out on my patio because my nearest neighbor (who I can't fence off from me or in any way block off due to fire code, per management) is either smoking or deliberately going outside to sneeze, cough, and hock loogies. He was doing it a few times daily until the fires. After reading things about how droplets travel 27 feet, I straight up do not feel okay going outside with him.
However, that's a first floor and not a windy roof. I don't know the scientific ventilation of a roof deck and air rushing around. That might be what you want to look into here, if anything. It's probably low risk, but how much risk do you feel like taking when the stakes are this high? And how pleasant is it to go outside with a bunch of drunk bros always out there? That's up to you to figure out.
posted by jenfullmoon at 4:10 PM on September 13, 2020
There is a lot of good advice and some solid perspectives about COVID above.
I came here to commiserate as a fellow Boston dweller who just had a bunch of partying, maskless bros move in next door. They're the worst.
posted by stripesandplaid at 1:14 PM on September 14, 2020
I came here to commiserate as a fellow Boston dweller who just had a bunch of partying, maskless bros move in next door. They're the worst.
posted by stripesandplaid at 1:14 PM on September 14, 2020
This sounds horribly annoying but not necessarily dangerous. I think if we could catch this thing from people 15 feet away outside, it would be spreading even more aggressively. Is it possible to find it both annoying but not particularly dangerous? I think that the annoying part might make it seem unsafe.
posted by bluedaisy at 1:38 PM on September 14, 2020
posted by bluedaisy at 1:38 PM on September 14, 2020
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When they're downwind of you, I think the risk of you catching anything from them would be pretty close to zero.
posted by automatronic at 4:34 AM on September 13, 2020 [30 favorites]