Having her pod of seven friends and their children over for Thanksgiving during the deadliest phase of the pandemic to date won’t be anything for themselves and the general public to worry about, confirmed local woman Anne Patricks, a member of six other pods.
“I know it seems like a lot of people getting together inside my house and deliberately flouting public orders meant to curb another out-of-control spike in deaths, but we’re super careful,” said Patricks, whose social media posts make it obvious she visits a different pod each day of the week. “The only people in our pod are a small group of friends, who I’m sure are not also hiding how many other extra pods they’re in like I am.”
Patricks contends that Governor Jay Inlsee’s public health order prohibiting all indoor gatherings with people from outside her household do not apply to her and the pod she decided to invite over for the holidays, despite her regular contact with a variety of social circles.
“We take precautions super seriously: Every time people come over, they’re wearing masks and social distancing until we start talking, drinking and eating together inside for the next few hours,” Patricks said before reserving a happy hour table with a friend from her second-favorite pod. “We all voted for Biden too so, I think we’re basically inoculated. It’s pretty well documented only Trump voters can spread the virus so if case and death numbers continue to climb here, don’t look at us. We’re in a pod.”
Besides, Patricks says she misses seeing everyone’s faces.
“We don’t even meet up that much,” Patricks said. “Just like a quick 4-hour brunch about every week, sometimes at a local restaurant.”
Excited as she is about Thanksgiving, Patricks said she’s even more excited about her Christmas-themed wedding next month.
“Don’t worry – it’s gonna be a really small, intimate gathering of just me and my fiance’s closest seven pods.”
