Are other kids masking at school (i.e., is the school still promoting it?) or are they the only ones? If the latter, bravo for intestinal fortitude!
So much this! I was just thinking this the other day.
According to my older daughter she was often the only one. Mask mandates ended in March 2022 here.
I expect she will not be masking at university in September.
I’m more cautious if I have any suspicion that I might be contagious in any way. Like I’ll mask and avoid leaving the house if I have a cold and have tested negative for Covid.
Part of that is courtesy and heightened awareness of the fact that a minor illness for one person can be serious for another (and even if it isn’t, it’s unpleasant and I don’t want to be responsible for anyone else having to endure it) and part of it is just that it would have seemed super weird and dramatic to go to work wearing a mask in 2019 because I had the sniffles.
I still mask in some crowded or enclosed settings, like concerts or airplanes, but not on a daily basis.
Other than that and a few of the little perks Covid brought that I still enjoy (like DoorDash being available in my area or working from home being an option on occasion), it’s pretty much “back to normal.”
I’m flying a lot less, but that’s simply due to the fact that the need for work-related travel has essentially ended.
Other than that, things have been normal for about a year. I seldom give COVID a thought. Medical facilities still require masking (last time I was in one at least. That was last October when my mother died in a local hospital). That’s about it.
Most of our employees work from home most of the time, but I think that’s likely to remain “post covid.”
Oh dear. I’m so sorry…
Thank you. The isolation imposed by COVID (although certainly necessary) was very hard on seniors in assisted living and memory care facilities. My mother’s final 2 years were much more lonely and scary than they should have been.
My life has changed so drastically since COVID that I’m basically at a new normal; I’ve since been divorced; the kids stayed with me after the split, and they have all reached adulthood (youngest is 19 and already moved out); I now work from home, and not in an office.
No masking (not that it was ever super-prevalent here in Wyoming); I handshake and hug as much as before (which is to say, not at all). I was glad for COVID making “social distancing” acceptable, so I seemed less standoffish. I don’t plan on ever working in an office again, if I can help it. I gave my vehicle to my son for Christmas; I either walk or DoorDash/Instacart whatever I need, if possible. I think I may get a small ATV before winter as my “daily driver”, but mainly for snow plowing my driveway and the entrance to my cul-de-sac to make sure my deliveries can happen without interruption!
Damn. That’s heartbreaking.
Even before COVID I have always been somewhat lazy as far as socializing… prone to just skipping things that seem like a hassle, or not fun. During the pandemic I felt free reign to just decline every single thing (because duh, deadly respiratory disease). Plus I got a 100% remote job that I have no intent of changing.
I’m still in that rut of not socializing and not going out, plus with the remote job, I almost never see anyone other than immediate family. This is probably not healthy and I should probably do something about it.
After everyone who wanted one got the vaccine…
We declared victory and went about our lives?
I know I did.
As of yesterday, I would have said that after vaccines we’re safe and apart from masking on plane flights I’m back to before COVID. But I tested positive yesterday, and while I’m not severely ill, I’m sick enough that I don’t want to ever get it another time. So when I go out again I’ll keep masking when indoors.
Damn!!
I don’t think covid will ever fully go away but I think of it now as being like flu. It knocks you out for a few days but can be more serious, even deadly, for the vulnerable (pre covid about flu caused an average of about 35,000 deaths in the USA per annum).
Going back to life before Covid would mean working since I retired only a few weeks before the pandemic started. And even going back to visit my old co-workers is a non-issue since they almost all work from home now. There is really no “before”, just my pandemic retirement reality.
I still wear masks in stores. I still eat out on patios. I had five workers in my home in the last week or so and I wore a mask but for the first time I did not ask them to. So baby steps there. I tried shopping for groceries a couple times but decided that I really, really hate doing that so I’m still getting Kroger pickups each week. The woman who has filled my orders the last few months is awesome and makes sure I get the freshest fruits and veggies and gives me upgrades all the time. I’m perfectly happy with that. I do visit with friends inside who are also still careful and we started hugging again after vaccines came along. I didn’t travel much in my last working years but I did have some plans for retirement. I still don’t know when those will happen.
My lungs aren’t in good shape which is why I’m still careful. I’d rather not get any respiratory illness. I think that if we get through this next winter without any problems, I’ll feel much more comfortable.
My “back to normal” was 2021, not too long after I got my Covid vaccine in March. My business (weddings) was back to normal that season after being completely shut down in 2020 for the most part, and maybe two weddings that season required COVID vaccinations and proof. Pretty much nobody was wearing masks on the dance floor. I flew in December of 2021 for the first time since COVID, as well, which further normalized things. Masks were being worn at that time, but my flight to Domincan in April 20, 2022, just a couple days after the mask mandate was struck down for airlines/airports, was maskless and just like pre-COVID. Maybe 10-15% of folks wore masks on that flight.
So, yeah, it’s been awhile since COVID has been actively on my radar.
I remember an Estonian government minister giving an interview about how glad they were about the 2 meter distancing rules ending so they could go back to the traditional Estonian 5 meter distancing.
I wear a mask at work (because I work at a very busy grocery store and come into contact with literally thousands of people per shift) and on the bus, but I may or may not put on one in other places.
I still often wear a mask in crowded places, and I wash my hands a good bit more than I did pre-Covid, and I still prefer to leave new purchases alone in their shopping bags for 48 hours before touching them, but otherwise things are pretty much back to normal for me.
I had a doctor’s visit last week, and when the nurse came out wearing a mask, I realized that I wasn’t wearing one (and neither had anyone in the waiting room), And she didn’t even mention putting one on. I have masks in my coat pockets, hanging by my door, and in the car, but I haven’t worn them anywhere for months, except medical facilities. And I hardly ever see people wearing one now.
But I think there are some lasting effects:
- Vaccines/boosters are likely to be at least annual, like flu shots.
- Meetings of social/political groups are mostly online now, and may stay that way. (Some groups I’m in have recently considered going back to in-person meetings, a good majority wanted to stay as online meetings.)
- Public body meetings are often online now, or hybrid with online attendance & speaking available. And people object if it isn’t.
- Court hearings, and even trials, are often done via online proceedings. That’s likely to continue because it’s much easier/cheaper for participants – lawyers don’t have to travel to different courtrooms, judges can keep order easily, counties don’t have the expense of escorting defendants from jail to a courtroom, witnesses can attend online.
- Employees have been shown to work just as well from home, and most prefer it. (Some are demanding it: I know of 2 people who are retiring rather than go back to full-time in office).
- Employers (smart ones) are realizing that they don’t need all that expensive office space, and that employees work fine remotely. (And some are wondering what they need all those high-paid middle managers for.)
- Small group gatherings (like 3-4 people) – the kind that used to be in coffee shops or someone’s home – are now done online. And visits to others, too. I know several people in nursing homes/assisted living where they have online visits with various grandchildren scattered all over the country – much more frequently that they used to have in-person visits.
All of these seem to me to be things that are likely to continue post-Covid.
Still masking in stations, airports, transit, big gatherings, theater, wherever someone is coughing more emphatically.