Believing stuff that isn't so: Jumping cactus and viral doom.

We make up stories to explain stuff.   In the Okanagan, a lot of people believe in Jumping Cactus. Why?  Because they cross a patch of desert and find cactus bits stuck to their pants.  Do they look at the cactus closely to see what mechanism gave it muscles?  Do they wonder how come the vegetable kingdom is acting like the animal kingdom?  No.  They make up a story and tell others.
I like a good story too but this one just isn't so, as Reagan said.

Bits of cactus stick to the back of my shoe.  My foot has a little snap forward at each step and the cactus is sticking from my shoe on a spine, a sort of springy pole vault.  Up she goes.

 Viruses are tiny but they don't work by magic. They can't live outside you for many hours and they don't have jet packs to get around.    They have to be physically shipped across the space between you and they need to do it while they are fresh.  That means that most of the outdoors is almost absolutely safe everywhere at all times, if you aren't up close to people.  And if no one has been there for a few days, the viruses are screwed and dead.

None of this means compromised seniors should be casual about infection.  Absolutely not.  But for the rest of the population, a little common sense, please.   There are thousands of KINDS of bacteria and virus making their home in you all the time, you're never without them.    Purity isn't the goal.