I live with someone immunocompromised so we're in year three of lock down. Wear an N95 everytime I go shopping which is pretty much all I get out of the house for. Every few months though either my partner or I will go visit family for a couple of weeks which gives me a break, I just COVID test before I see her again.
jesus christ that sounds like hell. i'm so sorrry you two have to go through it.
i never got over my covid anxiety (and i think doing so entirely is deeply irresponsible). my partner and i are always masked (kn or n95) when inside any building other than our home and we stick almost entirely to outside venues and events. that's been enough to keep either of us from getting it yet (to our knowledge).
you absolutely should not be living in full-on isolation unless you or someone you live with have some compelling health reasons to do so! people need people. it can be a big change and it can feel really awkward to demand extra consideration from people (only meeting for outdoor shit etc) but it's worth it to both have a life and be as safe from covid as you reasonably can
i wish you the very best!
I'm still treating COVID seriously. I don't generally "go out" because I hated restaurants and bars prior to COVID anyway, so my socialization is typically in fairly structured and planned events (board game night, movie night, etc).
I have put in place the following restrictions:
- everyone involved must test for covid the day of
- all gatherings either outdoors or at someone's apartment/house. If the latter, their S.O./kids/roommates must test as well
- if anyone has any symptoms in the week prior to the gathering, they're out
- if I catch anyone lying to me at any point they are dead to me
This is essentially my strategy as well. I should probably be more emphatic about the last point with a few people
Tbh anyone who could be a risk is just not getting invited. If anyone ever does get covid from a gathering, then I'm back to that 2020 life because I clearly can't trust anybody.
it's not anxiety it's sober risk assessment. I go out rarely and pretty much only for groceries, wear a mask when i do (doubly now with the air quality) and go either right after they open or an hour before close so that the fewest other people are around.
Almost two years ago when I first met the person I'm not dating, they were extremely isolated. They either went to work or stayed at home in their basement room and that was about it. I immediately saw and understood that they were basically going insane. They're doing a lot better now, in part because we started going out more. We need to be around other people to survive.
This is perhaps controversial on this site, but I'll be honest. We're both vaccinated, and I had vanilla covid in 2020 even after taking pretty strong precautions. By this point, the danger posed to me and mine by this disease feels no more exceptional than all of the other shit threatening my life and health by living in America in 2023. There are microplastics in my brain, PFAs in my food and blood, frothing fash who want to murder me for my supposed removed, insane carbrains trying to kill me on the road because I'm biking, and an ecosphere that's rapidly being disassembled down to its component chemicals. No individual action will really fix these other issues, so I wonder if we fixate on covid because it's a bit more under individual influence as to whether it impacts us or not. I ultimately decided it's just not worth it. I mask up in crowded situations but other than that I refuse to lose my mind in isolation.
I do the same except for the going at the last hours thing. I also sower everytime i return home.
I didn't
My lungs are still pretty fucky from the first and only time I got it, (From a friend who assured me and my partner that he was fine btw), so I'm still very cautious
3M Aura respirators anytime I'm in a building
Only eat at restaurants with outdoor dining
Try to go and do things during off hours
I just wear masks, that's what the Chinese CDC recommends at this point
I was an 'Essential Worker' all through the pandemic, so my logic has always been "I'm not going to face the public and risk covid for work and then isolate myself outside of work." Call it irresponsible but I just never stopped. I got covid twice, both times traced back to work, not seeing people I loved.
What we have been doing though is requiring covid tests before you hang out, and we fundraised to get forced air filtration for our community spaces.
^this
Working retail during the pandemic I never had the choice to care or not if I wanted to pay rent.
Not to be hostile, but why not just use a mask elsewhere? Do people care?
In my opinion, it seems like it. Those who were unmasked assumed I didn’t want to interact and would leave me alone. There are maybe 1-2 people with masks per semester, and they usually didn’t want to interact with me. I’ve forgotten my masks a few times last semester and other people became more sociable towards me
The Smile as a Class Marker
As is well-known, teeth are a class marker. The working class is far more likely to have bad teeth. Even the CDC understands this. From “Disparities in Oral Health“:
About 40% of adults with low-income or no private health insurance have untreated cavities. Low-income or uninsured adults are twice as likely to have one to three untreated cavities and 3 times as likely to have four or more untreated cavities as adults with higher incomes or private insurance.
. . .
So the demand to take off your mask “because I want to see your smile” is a demand that you enable yourself to be classified by (social) class, and possibly be deemed not dateworthy, not trustworthy, and definitely not worth being hired. (Of course, this varies by context. In the airline context, I would imagine bad teeth would translate into poor service and a less-than-happy seatmate.) And now the brief interlude with Bourdieu–
https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/10/let-me-see-your-smile-as-ugly-power-trip-and-classification-struggle.html
Entire article's amazing analysis of this phenomenon. From class, submission to hierarchy, and gender discrimination. Masks fuck up a lot of the disgusting coding class society's been injecting into people for centuries.
IDK if it's because of who I am (guy who posts a lot in our chats and leaves my dms open for people who need help with projects) but even wearing a mask I still talk with a pretty big number people on campus. I agree with the numbers though, I've made an effort of counting how many people use masks as I walk on campus and I estimate it's between 7%-18%. Could be cultural difference too, I'm not in the US where I know masks were politicized and are a prickly subject.
IDK, haven't really moved past it seeing as people are still dying or getting bedridden for long periods of time due to it, and all the agencies that were supposed to keep track of this thing just gave up or were defunded. I haven't changed my routine at all since 2021, except for starting to walk my dog in my mostly empty neighborhood some time ago.
I haven’t gotten over, but I’ve mostly given up. Outside of public transportation or other tight spaces, I’ve given up masks. I thought I wouldn’t cave into peer pressure, but it was pretty clear most people were uncomfortable being around me because I wore a fucking mask. Even other people who wore masks wanted nothing to do with me lol.
I don’t know how I’ll be able to form relationships when in the back of my head I know that many of them will happily give up all health precautions for treats. Myself included now I guess
im vaxxed and have probably had it(gf had it at least once and we live together) and was symptomless. For most people it's not a huge concern anymore. At first it was weird cause it was like "what the fuck is this thing" and i didnt go out much for 1.5 years and was anxious but eventually you can't do that forever.
I’m still donning an N95 on the train, which is a disease hot box regardless. Also at large group gatherings (like conferences). Still not comfortable flying on planes, not that I was flying much at all before COVID.
I wouldn't say I'm completely over Covid anxiety, but I have eased my way back into a more or less normal flow of things.
I still mask up when I'm on public transit or if I know I'm going to be indoors for more than 15 minutes. I selectively mask if I'm outside in crowded areas as well.
