Thanks to Covid-19, My Relationship With My Roommates Is in the Gutter
The pandemic has shown that when it comes to what really matters, my housemates and I were not as close as I thought
How long should someone quarantine in their bedroom when they’ve just flown on Thanksgiving weekend? This is the question my roommate Johnny and I found ourselves debating two weeks ago as our other roommate, Claire, planned her return to Boston after months spent with family in the Midwest. The three of us have shared an apartment in Boston’s leafy, lefty Jamaica Plain neighborhood for more than a year. Until now, our most arduous household challenges have been fixing the projector screen we use to watch movies or finding the source of a sudden sour stench in the fridge (spoiler: a bag of moldy cabbage from the farm where Johnny works). Claire’s return amid the fall Covid-19 surge changed everything.
Johnny and I concurred that Claire would ideally self-isolate from us upon moving back in — given the risks of getting on a plane and the Thanksgiving holiday weekend — but we disagreed on the duration of isolation we’d ask of Claire. (The word “ask” is important here.) I wanted 10 days, if not the full 14 required by Massachusetts for arrivals from Covid-19 red zones. Johnny was comfortable with five. Since…
