Safety Plan Template — Visiting Family During the COVID-19 Pandemic

It’s Sunday, June 7th, the 78th day of Corona Quarantine here in Los Angeles, and I just got off a call from my Dad telling me his best friend has died in a hospital in western Colorado. My Dad, he’s shook up, and he wants to drive to Colorado from Michigan to be with the his grieving family friends. He mentions there may be a funeral in Ouray on Saturday, June 13th.

Celebrating negative COVID results with my Dad.

Like Jodie Foster in Contact, I get to work building a technical framework for building Trust and Safety into the potential upcoming interactions with family and loved friends. Biohacking to the rescue!

Desires:

1. Ensure Safety of my Parents and their friends, most between 65 and 70 years of age.
2. Maximize the time my family spends together this trip since all of us have been isolated for almost 3 months.

The Cohort:

1. 10 Total People for 2 Weeks.
2. 2 driving from California, 2 driving from Michigan, 2 flying from California, 4 live at destination in Colorado. (4 Clumps = pairs that live together).
3. First contact is June 13th, 6 days away.

The pool of people that we would be meeting with and spending time with was 10 individuals. We did checks to ensure that everyone had been staying at home and socially distancing throughout the previous two weeks.

Creating a Buffer Zone of Safety and Trust:

1. Ensure at least 10 days of only internal exposure (all 10 people had been staying-at-home)
2. Utilize Recovery Biometrics from Biostrap (HRV, SP02 Blood Oxygen Saturation, Resting Heart Rate, Respiration Rate) (2 people)
3. Utilize Skin Temperate Checks (2 people)
4. Utilize local COVID tests before travel (5 people took test, 5 negative for COVID)
5. Avoid elderly for 14 days after

Approaching Safety in the Group = 10 days of Distancing BEFORE
+ Normal Recovery Metrics (Sleep, Blood Oxygen, Respiration Rate)
+ Normal Skin Temperature Readings
+ COVID Test for each Clump
+ Avoid Elderly for 14 Days After

I had biometric data going back two years and my younger brother had a year’s worth of data… so we had data pools in which to compare baselines and make sure that our bodies’ physiological signals were in normal ranges, giving us a modicum of trust to be able to meet.

I was within baselines for key biometrics including blood oxygen saturation and heart rate variability (HRV). Slight blood oxygen dip from high elevation. Slight HRV dip from poor sleeping conditions from travel.

Five out of the 10 individuals were able to get tests early in the week (at least one from each Clump). I was traveling by plane and taking the greatest exposure risk while others were traveling by car or lived there in the first place.

At minimum we had negative test results from each Clump and a focus on making sure exposure was minimized leading up to meeting. Around the day of meetup, we had clean biometric signals (Biostrap) and skin temperature (at the workplace) within normal ranges for 2 of the people. None of us had plans to meet with any elderly, and several would get tested in the coming weeks.

The Safety plan was thrown together in just a few days, but it allowed for freedom and peace as we spent several weeks together in the wild nature and mild evenings of Colorado.