u/FigIllustrious6690

I'm very well read on SARS2. Wearing a respirator, cleaning the air and generally taking appropriate airborne precautions is just a regular part of my everyday life. I also live with long covid and other disabilities.

I am soliciting your best advice.

The goal:
- find a new place to live that will accommodate me and my teenager who may be regularly exposed at high school and in the community
- choose a rental that maximizes mitigation options and set it up in a way where I dramatically reduce risk of spread indoors and can hopefully still enjoy shared, unmasked time and space together outside

The challenges:
- some financial barriers, but very determined and resourceful (plus already have a big mask stash, own multiple air cleaners)
- teen has been been misinformed by public health and influenced by coparents RE: transmission and impacts

Meeting halfway: to maintain our relationship I unfortunately need to make some compromises for now like allowing them to attend a brick and mortar (in-person) high school with peers, unmasked (which is a total nightmare). My teen is also willing to make some compromises, like masking in the house to protect me, especially if unmasking in their own bedroom is fine and especially if we can find very comfortable mask options... Given what's available now, I'm thinking of Zimis.

So... I suppose I'm looking for input from the covid-literate community about how to make this work; how to make it as comfortable and safe as possible. I want your ideas, your experience, your suggestions.

What would you look for in a home? This will be a rental unit. I think it would be helpful if we could afford separate bathrooms or at least one bedroom with an ensuite? This is something I never would have prioritized before as a frugal renter but I think it would make things safer, logistically.

What tools do you use in a shared home that make a huge difference to you? What are the situations I should be prepared for that I might be overlooking? Are you forced to live with non-cc folks or kids who are exposed by coparents? How do you manage that? What are some agreements I should negotiate or boundaries I should set as I work this out?

To be explicitly clear, I am deeply concerned about not just my own health but my teen's health as well. I hope that over time, my child will open up to learning more about SARS2 and take it seriously, choose to mask in the community and so on. For now, though, this is the situation we're in and I need to make the best of it.

Thank you for your ideas and for continuing to protect yourselves and the people around you. ❤️ Solidarity.

Hello everyone.

I've lived in BC my whole life. I was born in Vancouver, grew up in Kamloops and Kelowna, now back in Vancouver and I'm preparing to make a big change.

I truly love it here but I need to leave the most saturated job market in BC for work opportunities. I live fairly simply and frugally and I'm a renter, not a home owner. I need to find more affordable rentals and settle into a community where my kid can finish high school and start their adult life.

As mentioned, I'm already most familiar with the Okanagan and the Lower Mainland and I'm widening my search radius now. Here are my preferences and priorities:

- rentals more affordable (and ideally more available) than the lower mainland
- high school access and entry level work opportunities for my child
- very strong preference for avoiding communities with greatest wildfire risk
- safe driving access to/from the community (will want to visit family in Vancouver and the Okanagan at least a few times a year)
- don't mind winter weather, quite adaptable though admittedly daunted by the distance to/climate of Northern BC, but curious about the area however unfamiliar and certainly not ruling it out
- would consider island communities but need more info on weather and dependency on/reliability of ferries, which communities I should be checking out or skipping over
- very curious about more affordable communities in the Fraser Valley and the Kootenays, if those exist
- my skill set and work background are primarily in customer care, sales, marketing, retail, café and childcare... I'm a people person, professional and considerate with very strong communication skills and really aiming to find reliable work, make new connections and contribute to a new community
- I prefer to stay in BC but I am quite flexible at this point and if there are communities in other provinces that you would highly recommend based on these criteria, please don't hesitate to name them.

Where would you suggest I consider and why? Do you live in a more affordable town that you love or know someone who does? Do you have a pulse on the rental and work situation there? What do you know about the weather? The high schools?

HUGE THANK YOU to anyone who takes the time to offer their experience and input!