

The break up of secure pods creates a sense of newfound loss and grief. Sean Jefferson anticipates leaving his pandemic bubble and flying back to Boston soon to work at his office a few days per week. Some employers are requesting their employees return to the office for important meetings and in-person trainings. When Pods Break UpĪs vaccines start to roll out, schools are beginning to re-open and college students are starting a new semester on campus. They added comfort and support during a time when a contagious and potentially deathly illness reigned. Having parents rise at dawn and noisily prepare breakfast may clash with some young adult’s concept of ideal sleep hours.Īnd yet, these sudden groupings served a valuable function: they contributed positively to member’s mental health and sense of wellbeing. Some members admitted having a love-hate relationship with their pods, valuing the connection yet missing the loss of space and having to adjust to cramped quarters.Īttending an online meeting while one’s teen is screaming at an Xbox or blaring K-pop from the bathroom can try patience. In doing so, they grew stronger bonds, families learned the value of trust, and they faced annoyances with increased tolerance in order to avoid fall-out. Their main reason for hunkering down was to protect one another. In forming a pod, members often had frank conversations about their level of risk aversion, and developed rules and standards of governance. Often referred to as a quaranteam, pandemic pods or bubbles are small, self-contained networks of people who limit their social interaction to one another. Coping in QuaranteamsĪcross the nation, individuals reached out to friends and family members to shelter from COVID-19. He brought his girlfriend of six months with him, and the four formed a new family bubble. Sheltering in the city felt risky, and he wanted to keep an eye on his parents, who were seniors and at higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

MIGHT BE TIME UP PANDEMIC POD SOFTWARE
Twenty-eight-year-old Sean Jefferson, a software developer in Boston, returned to his parent’s home state of Louisiana when his office closed in late March and employees were instructed to work from home. Now the cocoon Ana has been sharing with her parents will end when Ana moves to Minneapolis in May to start a new job. She was sharing an apartment with friends, but they all dispersed to isolate with their respective families. Ana Lopez was a third-year student at the University of Colorado in Boulder when the pandemic hit, and in-person classes were shut down.
