NAVIGATING

July 18, 2020.

We're all getting used to wearing masks when we're outside the house, paying attention to the tape marks on the floor to maintain six-feet of social distance, and watching for the arrows to be sure we're going the right way in one-way aisles. Earlier in the Covid-19 pandemic, these navigational prompts were hastily applied with whatever tape the store or office had on hand. More recently, I've been seeing commercially produced signs and markers. In late May I saw well-designed icons reminding people to wear masks.

When I drove into the medical center parking garage yesterday, I was surprised to see that most of the parking spaces were full, unlike the situation a month ago when there were few cars. The entrance to the building was arranged with temporary barriers and signs, directing patients to enter though a check point. The worker there asked me if I had an appointment and I answered a few screening questions: had I experienced any symptoms of Covid-19 or had I come in contact with anyone who might have had Covid-19 in the past two weeks? Then my temperature was taken, I was given a visitor's sticker to wear on my shirt, and directed to use the hand sanitizer beore I actually enetered the building.

Once inside, there seemed to be fewer people than usual. I think patients are encouraged to come alone if they are able. The fewer "extra" people, the better. No more family groups accompanying Grandma. There were hand sanitizer stations all over the place --- I found the alcohol gel sticky to use. Signs by the elevators limited people to two per trip. I got in and indicated to the only other person waiting that it was OK if he got into the car with me. We stood in diagonally oposite corners.

At the orthopedic department, the floor approaching the check-in desk was dotted with stickers, each one an X inside a circle with the admonition to stand inside a circle while waiting in line. They were, of course, all six feet apart, and the one at the head of the line was six feet from the masked check-in person. There were still lots of chairs in the waiting area, but more than half of them were tied off with yellow plastic strips draped from arm rest to arm rest.

Except that the doctor and I were both masked, my six-week, post-op check-up went as usual. A bit of converstaion, a few casual questions, a look at x-rays, and I got the good news that I was on-track, fine. Come back in six weeks.