Pod Power Part 1

March 23, 2020

POD POWER – part 1

I will start with the good news. Community spread of viral illness can be slowed and minimized. And we have the knowledge and tools to accomplish this. If… and this is a huge IF… we are willing to do the work.

Social Distancing has Failed

We have never heard this phrasing before and many have been confused by it. It didn’t sound too serious. After being been told to “socially distance” we continued to place ourselves at risk with our usual social behavior; such as standing in line at the pharmacy12 inches behind the person ahead of you is NOT socially distancing. People still went on Spring Break with a few thousand other party goers not fully aware of the social consequences of such behavior.

Social distancing does not mean hanging out with your group of 10 friends who then go hang with a different group of 10 friends and so on. You can see how that won’t work.

The Power of The Consensually Consistent Pod (CCP).

The safest possible way to avoid getting sick would be to go into solo isolation, yet this is impractical, and frankly not possible, for most of us social creatures. The next best plan is to create a Consensually Consistent Pod (CCP).

For example, if you, your spouse and your children have declared yourselves a “CCP”, then this means you are the only people that any of you can be in close contact with. And you have to be Consensually Consistent for this to work. If you want to expand your pod, you could have an honest conversation with another consensually consistent pod to merge your pods. You have to remain loyal to your agreement.

In the event one of you were to become ill, you would ALL have to individually isolate for 14 days to avoid anyone else spreading the virus to the entire pod. Once 14 days pass after the last person to become ill starts the clock, then you are all safe to resume Pod Contact.

This small example reveals how critical it is to keep your pod small and self-contained for the duration of this pandemic. By doing this for a limited amount of time (we have yet to determine exactly how long this will be – but as of now it’s looking as though it could be up to a couple of months) we flatten the critical mass curve and our medical care system will be able to keep up with the increased demand without being totally overwhelmed.

Let’s All Do Our Part.

By Dr. Nancy Sutton Pierce
Health Educator & PR/Media Liaison

PRESS: Contact for PR or Media – DrNancy@DrNSP.com