Travel to care for potentially sick parent?

Post date: 2020-04-01 10:11:04

My friend's mom lives alone a twelve hour drive away, and might have COVID-19 symptoms. Is driving there to take care of her the correct thing to do? If not, what is, and how do you communicate that to the mom?

I'd like to help my friend make an informed decision about weighing the US pandemic guidelines with the responsibility to take care of his mother. Her current symptoms are a slight cough and a slight chest tightness. She is in her fifties, has an upper middle class life (professor, large home), but she lives alone and doesn't have a local support system other than through work. My friend has been in quarantine for two weeks, and would plan to drive down in his own vehicle.

How does this particular situation balance with the goals of public safety, when the default is that we should be staying home? Some related questions: does it make more sense for him to drive down if her symptoms get worse, or does it make even less sense then, since he would be more likely to contract the virus from her? The recommendation is to be in quarantine for two weeks after any travel -- would that apply even by car, with precautions at gas pumps? And, this is the real doozy: if the right thing to do is to not travel, how would it be best to frame it to the mom, who is scared and wants her son nearby?

Thank you in advance for fielding yet another pandemic question, everyone!

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