| For months, Shayna Englin and her husband sequestered themselves in their Los Angeles apartment, taking all precautions necessary to avoid contracting the virus that could mean serious illness given Englin's heart condition. Then, a few weeks ago, as cases ebbed in late spring, they decided to cautiously re-enter society. They had friends over for social-distanced drinks in the backyard. Another pair of friends came and stayed the weekend, after testing negative for Covid-19. When cases began to surge again, it was a reality check that moved them quickly back toward isolation. "We maybe had some irrational hope for a hot second there," Englin said. "We reassessed what we were willing to take risks for." Life in 2020 can be confusing. Simple daily life tasks have become risk assessments fraught with the weight of life or death decisions. To make matters more confusing, the new rules we live by now seem to change by the minute, as the state of the pandemic in America evolves.  A pedestrian wearing a face masks walks towards a beach entrance in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Photographer: Gabby Jones/Bloomberg As states including Florida, California, Arizona and Texas have reported record numbers of cases, Americans have been left bewildered by a vastly varied patchwork of social distancing recommendations across the country. Such surges have prompted some of the most aggressive reopening advocates, including Texas Governor Greg Abbott, to reverse course and require masks. And yet, in other corners of the nation, reopening measures have continued or merely paused. It can seem impossible to judge what activities are permissible or risky on any given day. A growing number of public health experts have argued that there needs to be more nuanced guidelines for Americans that allow some liberties.The Texas Medical Association, for example, has an activity guide citing camping, tennis and take-out as low-risk, while movie theaters and gyms are high-risk. Finding a way to balance the risks with the realities of needing to resume some economic and social activity is critical as we wait for a vaccine, Abraar Karan, a physician at Harvard Medical School, told Bloomberg. "People are just fatigued," he said. "They are tired of staying inside."--Kristen V. Brown | 
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