Shutting Themselves Inside to Avoid Being a Burden to Others

inside the outbreak When Australia had just a few coronavirus cases, Lee and Colin Lee decided to self-quarantine to keep resources available for younger people. “We’ve just got to share what’s there,” Mr. Lee said. When Lee Lee developed a raspy cough three weeks ago, there were only a handful of coronavirus cases in Australia.

No one was talking yet of social distancing, but when Mrs. Lee’s doctor swabbed her for a coronavirus test, she and her husband got to thinking. If hospitals were to become overwhelmed and their grandchildren or great-grandchildren got sick, doctors would face a terrible choice. “It occurred to us that if push came to shove, although we are certainly not tired of living, we’ve had a pretty good bite and we’d want the limited resources given to them rather than taking them ourselves,” Mrs.

Lee said. So though her test came back negative, Mrs. Lee, 72, a former human resources consultant, and her husband, Colin Lee, 86, a former police officer, decided to self-isolate. No more volunteering or group lunches, nothing really, beyond the backyard of their home in Geelong, outside Melbourne, where socializing was reduced to a tree filled with rainbow lorikeets.

Their decision came from knowing the splendor of a second chance. They met 16 years ago in the Fort Lauderdale airport after both of their spouses had died. A Jewish New Yorker, she was dropping off a friend. An Anglican Brit who lived in Australia, he could barely stand after 40 hours of travel weighted by grief.

“Are you all right? ” she asked. “No, I’m not,” he said. Together, they traveled, moved back to Australia and married.

Together, with the virus threatening, the last thing they wanted was to take away someone else’s serendipity, hospital bed or life. “We all have to care about each other, because it’s no longer the kind of war where you can let your neighbor go to the devil and take care of yourself,” Mrs. Lee said. Mr.