[sterlingice]

I will say that myself and, especially, my wife were much more affected by the ice storm a couple of weeks ago than we would have been pre-pandemic.

It wasn't that dissimilar a feeling than Harvey back in 2017. It was a slow moving disaster with increasing risk the longer the event went on where there was a significant risk of flooding (from burst pipes in this case), water damage and mold mitigation, and having to live elsewhere (with my parents, at a hotel?) long term. Only, it was almost more concerning during the pandemic, even though the event wasn't as bad.

However, the difference just like everything during the pandemic is that you just have fewer resources outside of the home. We've both been extremely fortunate with work letting us work from home and it has very much been our sanctuary these past months. It was frightening to lose that. We've been homeschooling our son, doing pickup for everything, almost never going inside buildings (still exercising outdoor but distancing is easy there), and trying very hard to minimize our exposure outside the home. Our thought process is that others can't do that as easily so our part is to be the ones not getting other sick. So the idea of living in a hotel, shared public spaces and ventilation, and having to get food much more often is really unappealing right now. We can choose to not go into stores or restaurants right now (but still shop there- just in different ways). You can't do that if you're in a different living circumstance. It would completely change the new normal of how we've done things for the last year and not for the better.

SI