Current covid precautions?

March 19, 2022 10:34 AM

I am wondering what current precautions, or not, are being taken by people who have generally been cautious of covid-19.

My county is having 10.5 new cases per 100,000 people, with a 4.4 percent test positivity rate. The state of 2 million people has been getting around 175 new cases per day.

My wife has asthma and COPD. We are hardly around other people.

I am considering going to local candidate’s fundraiser tomorrow, in a home. I wish it was outside. I have a number of mixed feelings about moving toward what used to be normal.

posted by NotLost to Health & Fitness (39 answers total)

I found this article really helpful in a similar situation: I’m a 64 year old vaxxed doctor. Here’s how I calculate my Covid risk at parties.
posted by stellaluna at 10:47 AM on March 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

My partner has not developed lasting antibodies from his vaccines and boosters. We largely go nowhere except medical and vet appointments (several of which recently have been unavoidable emergencies in which we needed to be in the room), and maybe once every month or quarter see friends outdoors if they have been fairly cautious recently as well.

No indoor events, there's no way to make that not high risk. You can donate and not go, that's the most risk-averse you could be. Or not donate, since this person is having indoor events in small spaces.
posted by Lyn Never at 10:47 AM on March 19, 2022 [7 favorites]

I found this article and grid from "Your Local Epidemiologist" to be extremely helpful in guiding my behavior.
posted by mjcon at 10:52 AM on March 19, 2022 [8 favorites]

Best answer: Your Local Epidemiologist is great, and also this calculator from The Microcovid Project.
posted by matildaben at 10:54 AM on March 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

I personally don't spend indoor unmasked time with people I don't know well and trust to stay home if they have symptoms and be vaccinated, and I don't get together with them in really large groups. (I've seen six at a time and would likely go up to 10.)

So no restaurants or big parties, though I am okay with outdoor events if they're not really crowded.
posted by metasarah at 10:55 AM on March 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

I’m still wearing KN95s everywhere inside except my house, my partner’s house, and a trusted friend’s house. I go places but not places where the point is to eat or drink & I’d have to remove my mask.
posted by needs more cowbell at 11:17 AM on March 19, 2022 [20 favorites]

I have to work in an office environment at least one day a week. I wear an N95 and do not take it off while I'm in the building (have to hydrate before I go in, which stinks, but here we are).

I'm comfortable with outdoor dining when necessary, but most comfortable around people I know to be vaxxed and cautious. No indoor restaurants, concerts, etc, yet.
posted by Alterscape at 11:23 AM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

In my country case rates are around 4% and restrictions were largely lifted mid February, meaning masks are now only required for public transport and medical facilities. In person all things are back on and it is down to employers to safeguard their workforce. A month after that rates are largely stable, hospitalisation is not alarming and people are generally going about their business maskless. Population over 12 years is vaccinated at 78%, boosted at half that.

Requirements to work from home were also lifted a month ago and apparently we’re now following a hybrid model. Since mid Feb. I’ve been all over the country for work. I still drive more than I used to but there were a few long train rides etc. I’ll be making a short trip by plane at the end of the month and was elated to learn I won’t have to fork out more money for covid tests than airfare this time. Work lunches and team meals are all back on. I live alone and did abide by all guidelines while they lasted but after 2 years of looking at my walls and into my computer screen I was definitely struggling. This return to in person interactions has done me the world of good in terms of mental health. I am boosted and will continue to keep up with that but only wear masks where required.

I will not say that people in my circle don’t test positive but they re largely vaccinated, don’t seem to suffer greatly and recover quickly. Some, especially those with children in nursery/school seem to be on their 2nd or 3rd infections. I assume I will get it at some point and whilst I am not discounting that some people get very sick or suffer from long covid, I am also no longer willing to stay home. I don’t force anybody to go to in person events/meetings/meals but I will go if I feel like it.
posted by koahiatamadl at 11:30 AM on March 19, 2022 [10 favorites]

Are you asking because you wonder what precautions the politician might be taking? Or to gauge what the average attendees daily lives look like currently?

If the former, I'd ask the candidate directly - no way to know otherwise.

If the latter, I'd assume that the majority of people going, even if they are people who were being very cautious in the early phases of the pandemic, are mostly living lives that are approximate to 'back to normal.' My circle of friends is educated and politically progressive, and while there are some people who are currently not spending any time unmasked around others indoors, most people I know are, if not to the degree that they were pre-pandemic. For example my parents, Boomer Bernie-voters who two years ago were wiping all of their groceries down with bleach water, are now eating inside restaurants once a week, and my mom is volunteering indoors, unmasked. Other people I know are still avoiding indoor/unmasked time with strangers (though with restrictions dropping, this is somewhat impossible to do entirely), but are being unmasked with friends/family indoors. So I'd assume that the people going to this event will reflect that range, and make your own choice accordingly.

Edit: this is based on the US, my parents are in a city that was one of the first cities to peak with Omicron and currently has very low cases numbers, I'm currently in a state that was slower to drop and still is a light orange color on the NYTimes map.
posted by coffeecat at 11:38 AM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I found this article and grid from "Your Local Epidemiologist" to be extremely helpful in guiding my behavior.

Looking at the current numbers for my county, this framework comes up with pretty similar guidance as the current CDC "check your county status" tool -- both say indoor masking is not needed for vaccinated people, etc.

This return to in person interactions has done me the world of good in terms of mental health. I am boosted and will continue to keep up with that but only wear masks where required.

This has been my experience also -- simply being able to exchange smiles with people is so nice. (For me personally, I'm still wearing masks not just when required, but also when it is clear that doing so is going to make someone else more comfortable.) I'm not, like, making out with strangers at the bar, but I am really appreciating increased human contact after a long time of taking a lot of caution.

I know a few people who are still choosing to remain very isolated, some because of medical vulnerability and some because they are just really worried about the risk of the disease. But most people I know are increasingly opening up their lives, going to more in person events, dining indoors, etc.
posted by Dip Flash at 11:39 AM on March 19, 2022 [6 favorites]

I have been very careful and compliant. I live in a county that the CDC labels low risk at the moment. At this point I go where I please and wear a mask only where it's required. I'm a healthy 45 year old woman who is never around children or the elderly or anyone immunocompromised; my decisions might be different otherwise. I expect cases to rise again later this year, based on what's happening in Asia and Europe, and at that point I will adjust my behavior again to accommodate the changed circumstances. For now, it's life mostly as usual for me. In general, this seems to be what my (liberal, considerate, nice normal human social circle) is doing as well.
posted by something something at 11:39 AM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I wear an N95 mask in any inside space. I avoid restaurants and other crowded interior places, though I do go to meetings where people don't mask and will probably stop soon and go back to Zoom, but I have an in-person commitment for the rest of the month. I have a spouse with stage 4 cancer and an unvaccinated grandchild, (they're likewise masking and so are the parents) and I'm apprehensive about long COVID. I'm vaccinated and boosted (Pfizer) and my spouse likewise, though eligible for a second booster. We are still requiring masks on mass transit in my city, and most people are wearing them correctly.

It makes me very sad periodically that so many people are okay with infecting the at-risk, that so many people have expressed a willingness to let people like me die, and that so many people are terrified of vaccines. I understand the fear of vaccines that adults have, though I don't share it; aforesaid spouse ended up in the hospital with pneumonia because of avoiding the flu vaccine for decades (also has stage 4 cancer because of avoiding colonoscopies). For myself, I'm still very worried about long COVID and I know several people who have it. The after-effects of even a mild case are unpredictable.

My city has been pretty awesome about masks but the mandate ended recently. I was out for a walk in the lovely weather today, and downtown people were massed in crowds outside restaurants.
posted by Peach at 12:12 PM on March 19, 2022 [15 favorites]

I work in a public facing job, live alone, and regularly visit my elderly mother in her assisted living facility. I avoid crowded places and still do curbside grocery pickup. As far as I know I’ve never had Covid.
I’m still wearing a mask everywhere. I can’t control what other people do but I won’t risk possibly infecting my mom or any of the other residents. I need to know I’m doing everything possible on my end to keep that from happening.
posted by bookmammal at 12:13 PM on March 19, 2022 [7 favorites]

Here's the archived version of the "64 year old vaxxed doctor" article.

I live in a rural area which has had low COVID numbers throughout and poor mask compliance. It also often registers high on maps because the low population means that just a few cases makes the "per 100K" number look bigger. I also have a 96 year old landlady who I interact with fairly regularly. I have eaten indoors at a restaurant a handful of times since March 2020 and all either at nearly-empty places or in the one place where I know their entire air-exchange plan and I think it's solid. I have a short list of friends (all triple vaxxed) who I interact with unmasked and if I am in public indoors otherwise I wear my mask. I swapped out cloth masks for KN-95s during omicron and I may stick with that for all but quick errands.

In your shoes, I'd go if it was a local small event among people who were likely to be vaccinated and masked, but I think I'd also check in with my spouse and stay home if they weren't comfortable.
posted by jessamyn at 12:16 PM on March 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

Just to add that last week I sat down next to a (masked, vaccinated) friend and chatted with him indoors. I asked him how he was doing. "I tested positive last weekend but I feel fine," he said. I got up and left.

That's the problem with indoor spaces with trusted friends. I would have said he was a sensible and reliable person.

I wouldn't go to any crowded gathering, inside or outside, that I don't have to be at.
posted by Peach at 12:20 PM on March 19, 2022 [19 favorites]

I wear a KN95 or an N95 everywhere. I probably have some kind of "fashion" mask over that just to keep things pretty. If I'm feeling uneasy, I don't take the mask off to eat. I am being somewhat more risky at times, which I should not be (i.e. indoor dining). I don't recommend that you do that one, I know darned well I shouldn't, but I'm hanging around vaccinated theater people and I'm just...giving in to that one. So far so good for me.
At this point all you can do is protect yourself because all mandates are out the window. Keep your very good mask on and otherwise live your life, is what I'm doing at this point.

That said, given your current situation, maybe just don't bother to go to the candidate's house if you're uneasy. If the fear/consequences are bigger than what you're hoping to get from going to the candidate's home, it's probably not worth it.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:34 PM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm 34 and healthy. I haven't caught Covid, I'm fully vaccinated (in fact participated in vaccine clinical trials), I take lateral flow tests sometimes, and was one of the first people in my neighbourhood to wear a mask back in spring 2020.

Life is fairly normal at this point: I do most of the things I did pre-Covid, as does pretty much everyone I know.

I wouldn't think twice about socialising outdoors, and with groups of friends indoors at pubs and cafes. I went to my first indoors pop gig for years on Monday, and took a lateral flow test beforehand. I go to the cinema, though less often than I used to.

The legal requirement here to wear masks in indoor public places and on public transport expires in two weeks. I look forward to not having to put on a mask to walk the 2 metres between the pub entrance and our usual table, which has felt fairly pointless for a while. But I'll continue mask-wearing on buses, in the busy bookshop where I volunteer, and probably in other shops, for some time beyond the law expiring. People mostly took their masks off during Monday's gig, and obviously always while seated in a pub. I think wearing masks in open spaces outdoors has always been nonsense.

Here in Scotland, cases are still high (1600 per 100k population over the last 7 days). But thanks to vaccination, acquired immunity and milder variants, Covid is now no more deadly than flu, for all age groups. And significantly less lethal than flu for young people. There are caveats to that. But I never once avoided socialising, prior to 2020, out of fear of catching flu.
posted by Klipspringer at 12:42 PM on March 19, 2022 [10 favorites]

We're vaxxed/boosted and still very cautious. We do spend time indoors with a couple of other families we trust to be what we'd call reasonably cautious. We still haven't eaten inside a restaurant, and only once outside a restaurant that had a single table on the sidewalk with no passersby. I'm not concerned too much about an initial infection, though my lungs do have a tendency toward bronchitis or pneumonia in the best of times. Mostly, in making my calculation, there simply aren't local restaurants where their mediocre chairs and wall art are worth the risk of long covid when I could instead simply pick up some takeout and eat it in my comfy living room.

In the long run, what will be probably be more of a temptation is some kind of travel, though I don't know what might finally make me feel comfortable doing so. Knowing the facts on air circulation on planes and feeling comfortable with them enough to enjoy the act of traveling are proving separate.

Locally, while our numbers are currently pretty low here, I'd feel much more comfortable if people would just wear masks. Going into stores where there is a big sign asking people to please mask even if vaxxed and I'm the only non-employee to be wearing one makes me very distrustful about whatever other risks they are taking. It also makes me pretty irritable about their apparent indifference to the invisible health needs of those around them. But all I can do continue to act in ways that minimize the likelihood that I'll be a link in the transmission chain.
posted by past unusual at 1:03 PM on March 19, 2022 [4 favorites]

I have been very cautious: I have gone into the grocery store masked a few times but that's it for public spaces. I have met with small groups of friends after testing but have declined invitations to larger gatherings, including an envelope-stuffing event for a friend running for office (instead, I told him to drop off any remaining unstuffed envelopes at my house afterward and I would do them). And I work from home.

However, our seven-day moving average is currently 3.6 per 100K and tonight I'm going to a birthday party with a total of nine people, indoors, unmasked, and I assume no one is going to test first. I'm a little twitchy about it but I'm going and I'm not asking about testing. But tomorrow night I've got two friends coming over for drinks and we're all testing first. Is this logical, no. I just feel more empowered to ask two people to test than a larger group. I'm still not dining indoors and probably won't for quite some time. Next month there will be a "celebration of life" type of party for a friend who was a prominent local figure so it will be a huge crowd. Still trying to figure out what to do about that one.

In short, I am making random, logically inconsistent forays back into the world of face-to-face contact, and am not entirely comfortable with any of it, but at this point I think that letting my social support system further degrade is worse for my overall welfare than the risk of getting Covid. It's a crappy choice to have to make.
posted by HotToddy at 1:05 PM on March 19, 2022 [12 favorites]

I wear an KN95 mask mostly everywhere. We have 85% vaccinated here, and our mask mandates expired last week. Don't care. When omicron hit, I went back to wearing a mask during my 40+ soccer team games. Last week, I only wore it in the second half. We go to our sponsor restaurant after games sometimes. I'm the only one who wears a mask except if I am taking a bite or having a drink. Frustrating.

When I had to go to Salt Lake City for my son's Olympic Development Program water polo tournament two months or so ago, Idaho was not great. I fear we are dropping masks too soon. I will continue to mask up for a while. Need a fourth shot...
posted by Windopaene at 1:11 PM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

My household of adults with comorbidities that increase risk of bad outcomes relaxed our precautions a bit when we got vaccinated, in that we now have two trusted friends we will spend unmasked indoor time with, with a great deal of transparency around everyone’s behavior. Since then, no major changes in our behavior, nor do we anticipate changes anytime soon. We’re still avoiding indoor contact with other people as much as possible, still masked when it becomes absolutely necessary to go indoors, still not traveling or going to restaurants or events or considering bringing more people into our “we will be indoors with you for fun” circle.

We’re comfortable and happy in our current situation and not feeling deprived. We’re much more concerned about Long Covid, or about risking being a link in an exposure chain to someone else such as our immunocompromised friends, than we are sad about missing out on anything. So here we stay for now. We’ll reconsider if my job decides to bring people back to the office, when vaccines for young children are widely available, when we find better ways to protect the immunocompromised. or when we get better at understanding and protecting people from Long Covid.

I *may* decide to travel to see my elderly parents in the fall, for the first time since 2019. That’s a big question mark.
posted by Stacey at 1:21 PM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I am skipping my sibling's milestone birthday party because it will include a meal inside a small restaurant, among a group of non-socially-distanced invitees who are from a variety of households, not to mention I have no idea whether any of them are vaccinated, nor whether the waitstaff or other patrons are. If the party were to occur outdoors, with social distancing and masks, then I would attend. Comparing covid to the flu does not reassure me, because, in spite of having no underlying health issues at all, I almost died from the flu at age forty-six.
posted by SageTrail at 1:23 PM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

NYC has low transmission rates right now, so I have started dining indoors and socializing freely with my friends at their homes and mine. I still mask in stores because it feels polite, and masking is still required on public transit. When omicron was out of control earlier this winter, I was not socializing or dining indoors.

To me COVID seems to require some agility in your boundaries. When cases are high, I am much more cautious than times like now. I assume a time will come in the future where I will have to reign in my social activities again.

My parents are elderly and frail, and both live in nursing homes. Both facilities allow visits with few restrictions besides requiring that visitors wear masks, and I don’t think twice about visiting. My dad in particular does not likely have much time on this planet left, and the time I have left with him is precious. Ironically, he had COVID in January and never even showed any symptoms.

Sometimes the perspectives of mefites on COVID make me worry that some people have suffered permanent psychological damage from this ordeal, and I don’t blame them. I live in NYC and I never want to go back to spring 2020 ever again, but I also don’t want to lose any more time. This is an agree to disagree situation, I can’t change anyone else’s mind and nobody is going to change mine. Everyone has to do what they think is best. The only thing I modulate my behavior by are the case numbers in my community.
posted by cakelite at 1:38 PM on March 19, 2022 [27 favorites]

I wear a mask indoors and that includes on transport. I have eaten in restaurants maybe four times in the past two years. Go if you want to go, wear a mask.
posted by DarlingBri at 1:43 PM on March 19, 2022

I wasn't planning to answer this question because I didn't think I had anything different to add, but in reading the answers I'm discovering that I'm probably less careful than the others yet I still think of myself as being cautious. For context, we are both over 65 with comorbidities. And I really really don't want Long Covid, although I figure I would come through the initial infection pretty easily.

In mid-January (aka peak omicron in the US) I skipped my nephew's wedding because I wasn't willing to fly and stay in a hotel. In retrospect, I'm a bit surprised I even considered going. But now that our county's infection rate is under 10 cases per 100K and omicron has decreased dramatically in the US, my husband and I have traveled. We drove, were comfortable staying in a hotel overnight on the way to our VRBO, and generally distanced ourselves from others and wore masks indoors. At our destination, we masked when we expected to be indoors for more than five minutes, but felt okay eating in restaurants. Some felt safer than others.

At home, we mask indoors at the grocery and other stores. Even just running in someplace, I'm still likely to wear a mask. But we socialize indoors, unmasked, with some other couples who we know are equally careful. Never more than six people, except a few nights ago when two other couples attended who were also characteristically cautious and "vouched for" by the hosts.

I no longer "tsk" at random strangers who are unmasked, which feels very liberating in itself, but I still avoid them. With that said, I would probably skip an indoor fundraiser without hesitation.
posted by DrGail at 1:59 PM on March 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

For context, I had covid in spring 2020 and although I came through it mostly ok, I personally know several people who have died of it. And I'm getting a little nervous about Omicron BA2: Electric Boogaloo.

I strongly prefer being masked indoors, but I also recognize that it's really psychologically hard to be the only person wearing a mask when everyone else is like wheeee! So I try to avoid situations where I think I might feel peer pressured into dropping the mask. In general I do everything I used to pre-covid (with the exception of indoor dining) but MOD-ified -- masked, outdoors, and/or distanced.

For the specific scenario you describe, I'd not only skip an indoor fundraiser (that sounds painful to me even without the specter of covid!) but I'd seriously question the candidate's thought process in doing this indoors instead of outside, assuming you're in a place where the weather would cooperate at this time of year.
posted by basalganglia at 2:34 PM on March 19, 2022 [3 favorites]

You can support this candidate with a direct financial donation. Ask if they'll be talking at all outdoors.

If you need some socialization (is the fundraiser at the home of a friend?), then plan some outdoor time with friends.
posted by bluedaisy at 2:52 PM on March 19, 2022

Covid is spreading like crazy again in nyc, so I stay masked whenever I’m indoors. I do go eat and drink sometimes, but it’s definitely a risk. I’m also in school, and despite the fact that we are not ‘required’ to mask anymore, almost everyone is still masking.
posted by asimplemouse at 3:37 PM on March 19, 2022

In my area, people have generally not taken precautions, the case rates are high and so are hospitalizations and deaths. For the US overall, we're still losing people very single day when a culture of masking and minor caution would probably stop that. Death rates are about what they last year - and now we know much more about treatments.

Having MD family members, I know that it's really really really true that people ask for vaccinations when they are about to be intubated, that people deny they have Covid, etc. etc. And I myself have heard unmasked people in the feed store talking about how Covid isn't that bad because they were out of bed after a couple of weeks or only in the hospital for a few days.

Until Covid numbers are down to the level of a unusually nasty flu season, I'll be avoiding unnecessary indoor activity and masking to the 9s when I do have to go indoors.

Given the number of deaths and serious illness that I personally, know about, it just seems weird that people are on the it's over train.
posted by Lesser Shrew at 4:45 PM on March 19, 2022 [5 favorites]

I’ve recently loosened up a lot, meaning that I am now willing to go inside structures other than my house, and even eat in deserted restaurants. KN95 everywhere except my house and the house of one trusted friend (on his patio with fans).

Being able to take the occasional Uber with all the windows down and go into shops to buy things has been a great feeling. Indoor parties would still be a no-go though.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 4:52 PM on March 19, 2022

Thanks for asking this excellent question. I'm in Maine, my county is at 10 cases per 100K. My sister & her husband (70s) had breakthrough covid that she described as flu-like. Flu in your 60s and 70s is non-trivial, though we're all used to that risk.

I went to the grocery a couple times in 2 nearby towns this past week and was the only person masked. A friend suggested a concert I'd have loved, but indoors with a couple hundred people? Nope. I have been to an indoor restaurant twice in the last 2 years, during the lull before Omicron.

My dance group re-started dancing for a while, stopped because of the Omicron spike, and just started again. We are all vaxxed, boosted, wear N95s and keep the many windows open. I am in such crappy condition from isolating that the exercise is really important; we danced yesterday and I am wiped out today. Maine is approaching Spring, and being able to go to restaurants with outdoor seating will be fantastic.
posted by theora55 at 6:07 PM on March 19, 2022

I've been using Microcovid.org for this question. It is just a rough guess but it feels much better than just relying on whatever the last dozen people around me have said feels safe to them. 10/100,000 is good but not risk free. Last summer, as I recall, counties had to be below 5 cases to be considered in the second tier and below 1 to be in the lowest. Since then, the chances of getting really sick if you get COVID is so much lower that people seemed to agree that we can tolerate higher risks of exposures but that doesn't apply if you know that your wife's risk of serious illness is much higher than the average person's.


Things that would make me nervous: How many people are going to be in the room with you? Ten? Twenty? More? Each extra person increases the risk. Second, is there any requirement regarding vaccination? In my county, unvaccinated people have six times risk of those who are vaccinated. I'm also assuming that most of other people will not be wearing masks.

When I look at this in Microcovid.org for my county, assuming 20 people, indoors for 2 hours and you would be masked and keep your distance, then the risk is high but not through the roof. If I really wanted to go and I was being careful about everything else, I might consider it. But if you really need to minimize the risk of bringing it home, this level of risk might be too much for you.
posted by metahawk at 6:42 PM on March 19, 2022

You have valid reasons to be concerned about the risk of exposing your wife to COVID, and you don't need to attend this crowded indoor event in order to assess a candidate for local office.

Tell the candidate's manager that indoor meetings are a no-go for you because COVID and ask if the candidate could drop by your house for 5-10 minutes for an outdoor face-to-face. If the campaign blows you off, then that will give you good information about the candidate's values and responsiveness to community concerns.

PS An old friend who has long been active in local and state progressive politics likes to quote their late sibling, a popular legislator who said that the most successful fundraising events are those to which everyone RSVPs "Sorry, can't make it" and just sends money.
posted by virago at 9:37 PM on March 19, 2022 [1 favorite]

This past week there were 9 ambulances at the local hospital in a ten minute stretch. Permanent rooms that you can be admitted to are sheets tacked to the ceiling the size of a gurney. The hospital is still full to overflowing. And county case numbers are now only being reported bi-weekly instead of daily. This is a blue but sorta rural state, and the medical infrastructure is still cracking under 11 cases per 100k (ish). It’s not just the covid numbers that matter in absolute terms, but whether there’s help if your wife needs it. Going to an indoor fundraiser with unknown participants is way more variables than I would comfortably undertake living with someone who is medically vulnerable. Nothing has changed about the pandemic except that news coverage has dropped off.
posted by Bottlecap at 9:44 PM on March 19, 2022 [2 favorites]

I'm immunocompromised and required by my employer to teach in person to unmasked, unvaccinated students. I still wear my N95 everywhere. I attend church, where masking is still required, and feel much safer there than in my classrooms and labs. Those are the only places I go. I would love to go other places, but Georgia has never had a mask mandate, and Atlanta has recently lifted ours.

I feel unsafe any time I'm outside of my house. I am terrified. I am aware that everyone around me considers me expendable.
posted by hydropsyche at 5:17 AM on March 20, 2022 [6 favorites]

I have been in Berlin and in NYC through the pandemic. In Berlin, where people were tested often; you needed to be vaccinated to ride long-distance trains; and compliance on transit was excellent, I took transit without fear, especially once I was vaxxed; ate outside a few times; and went to indoor swim practice, because the pools and my team took everything seriously, up to the point of people taking home tests before coming to practice and wearing masks any time they weren't in the water.

I did not mind traveling a little — Italy, back to the States — because you had to be vaxxed, tested, or recovered to fly or train and people were Very Mask Compliant.

Since returning to the US, I have been much less comfortable — even riding the subway is stressful because every car has a few sociopaths who make it very clear they don't care about harming other people — and those are the people most likely to be taking no other precautions!

I've been struggling quite a bit because I basically came back to the States to see all the people I missed, and I can't do that as freely as I would like because other people won't even take the basic steps to keep cases low. At this point, I will meet people for a beer outside and have friends over 1-2 at a time if they test first. I went to one indoor art event with six people and I was the jerk who was like "we are all taking tests right?" because that was the trade-off I was willing to make.

All of which is to say, we remain careful, with calibrated exceptions for the few things that really make my life go, and those only outside or with tests. As someone noted above, Covid is not over and people pretending it is are actually just prolonging things. It maybe feels lonely, but there are still other people being as cautious as you, but you don't see us, because we are all at home.

I would definitely not go to this event and I would tell the candidate why.
posted by dame at 10:04 AM on March 20, 2022 [4 favorites]

We’re up in Santa Fe, and are have not yet, so far as we know, caught covid. And we (me and my sweetie) both agree that we would rather not, even though we are boosted and unlikely to have severe symptoms. But I publicly criticized the governor for removing the mask mandate just because the CDC recolored the maps and tourist season is about to get started.

So what do we do? We are really looking forward to summer so we can eat outside at places again. But we occasionally do eat out, usually at off-hours when we can maintain 8-10 feet from the next nearest diners. We also hit a lot of food trucks and then eat in our car or get takeout.

We mask (n95s) when we’re indoors with others, just as if the mask mandate was still in effect. We also try to use hand-sanitizer after being masked somewhere and before removing our masks.

We avoid indoor maskless gatherings with neighbors, because even our “careful” neighbors (they’re not really that careful) caught Covid during the omicron wave. But we did attend a Christmas party indoors with neighbors. We arrived early, left early, and tried to keep our distance from others, though.

We have house-guests arriving from Colorado tomorrow, but the adults have been boosted, and the teenagers are both fully vaccinated. This is probably the most risky thing we’ve done in months, but it’s a calculated risk. We’ll have at least five days before we need to be indoor with others after our guests leave so we can be relatively sure we didn’t catch anything, except that we both visits to the dentist this week (we both have crowns in need of repair - ugh!).

We’re privileged in that we’re both retired and we live in a suburban area where we have been hunkering down for over two years. Yeah, it’s tiring and we would both like to get back to normal, but covid isn’t done with us yet. And in the minus column, just a mile from us is a gas station after 50 miles of no gas stations in two directions, which is continually full of cars with Texas and Colorado plates, and people who were going maskless even before the mask mandate went away.

For New Mexico residents, I suggest listening to David Scrase (from the department of health). He’s in his mid-60s and behaving pretty cautiously. He’s still masking up, same as he was for the past two years, and avoiding unnecessary contact with people. The Santa Fe Reporter talks to him regularly, and usually covers his most recent recommendations.

As for your meeting with the candidate, I wouldn’t go, and I would explain why. “Covid isn’t over.”

Hope this was in time to help.
posted by DaveP at 1:39 PM on March 20, 2022 [2 favorites]

Still do grocery delivery. I haven't stepped foot inside a restaurant since the pandemic started. I generally wear a KN95 when indoors, which is mainly when I go to the gym. (I spend about 2 hours a day at the gym - I'm rehabbing from some complicated health stuff). I work from home.

Over the last few weeks, a lot of towns in my area have lifted the mask mandates. We still have low case numbers and like 80% vaccination rate for my state (which I think is closer to 85% or higher in my town).

I admit that I've gotten a little bit looser about masking indoors at times. I still wear it all the time when running the occasional errands, but the gym I use is very spread out and open, and I try to go out times when it's least busy, so if there's only like one other person on the same floor as me, and they're 20ft away, I admit that I don't wear the mask. Even though there are sometimes other people who pass by me while I'm on the equipment.

Like your wife, I have asthma - in my case, it's not super well controlled and complicated to treat - so while I'm trying to force myself to keep up with the mask wearing any time I'm indoors, I've started letting up a bit in the gym, as described above. Though doing even this makes me nervous and if case numbers start rising, I may have to change courses.

On the other hand, I was upset that so many mask mandates got lifted this month. At the same time, I get it. I hate trying to breathe through a mask - breathing is hard enough for me as it is with all my health problems.

I think part of it is just that it's so easy to sort of give in in the moment. Almost everyone around me isn't wearing a mask. But I really don't want to get covid - mainly my fears are around long Covid.

For what it's worth, I haven't caught covid that I'm aware of and I'm fully vaxxed and boosted.
posted by litera scripta manet at 4:33 PM on March 20, 2022

Response by poster: Thanks! I appreciate everybody's replies. I am glad to see that many of us are still being cautious. You all helped show me that although some people are loosening things up to varying degrees, many of us are not, and that positive peer pressure helps me stay the course.

I did mark as best answer the microcovid calculator. I really appreciate the help to quantify the risk.

I ended up not going to the event, but donating to the candidate online.

By the way, we think my wife has pneumonia now and are planning to get that checked Monday.

Thank you all.
posted by NotLost at 8:37 PM on March 20, 2022 [3 favorites]