Transcript of Dating and hanging out with friends during COVID-19
Conversation between Ella Darling from the Council for Intellectual Disability and Dr Jan Fizzell who is Senior Medical Advisor at NSW Health.
Ella: Can you be safely dating someone in a relationship or go out in a relationship with someone?
Dr Jan: So I think with any friendships, close friendships or very close friendships at the moment (laughs). They key thing is having an understanding of where they are coming from and whether they are going to help keep you safe.
Ella: So I am saying, if they came from Sydney to the Central Coast and you guys went out on a date, would that be fine or would that be a bit (hand gesture).
Dr Jan: It's fine, But the key question is no one should be sick, if anyone is feeling sick it shouldn't happen. If anyone is feeling unsafe, think about where you go on your date. So you might go to a less crowded place. So if there is two restaurants side by side, one's completely packed and you normally go "well that one must be the good place to go into, the food must be great" and the other one's quiet. I would suggest going to the quiet one, even if the food wasn't quite so good simply because there's fewer people around.
Dr Jan: And just being really aware that if it's somebody that you don't particularly know well and you don't know whether they are going to be honest with you or not about feeling sick or not, it's really about using your best judgement about who you hang out with.