Health precludes pandemic partying

Dear Amy: My fiance has asthma. I have reoccurring bronchitis, due to complications from emergency lung surgery. We are both in our late-20s. We have been taking our state’s stay-at-home order seriously. We wear masks when we go out. Otherwise, we are staying in.

We live in a duplex with a shared front yard. Our neighbors are not taking the stay-at-home seriously.

They are still going to friends’ houses every weekend, and (early on) they had co-workers over every night.

Today they threw a party on our front lawn.

I wanted to call the police to break it up.

I have been trying to stay away from them, but we do share a few spaces.

The few times we talked early on, I talked about how the city we live in was spiking in coronavirus cases, but it fell on deaf ears.

At what point should I ask them to take this seriouslyalth? — Sheltering in Wisconsin

Dear Sheltering:

The point has long passed for you to ask your neighbors to take this crisis seriously. Generally, it is easier to preempt negative behavior before it starts.

You’ll have to give it a try, and hope for the best.

My understanding is that because “stay-at-home” orders are being handled differently in various cities and states, the police might not be interested (or legally able) to bust up a party on your front lawn.

You should take rational and commonsense precautions regarding these very close neighbors. Wipe shared door handles and any other common point of contact with disinfectant before you touch them. Wash your hands frequently.

Communicate with your neighbors: “Hey, we’re your neighbors and have serious health conditions that make us vulnerable to COVID-19. Could you do us a favor and please be more considerate?”