Well, for a great majority of people (in the U.S. anyway), international travel isn’t part of normal life. And I say this as someone who has twice postponed a meeting in Europe due to the pandemic.
I wouldn’t say, “No matter what”, but I’ll certainly be using them more in the future than I ever did pre-COVID. And I’d do that even if COVID magically disappeared overnight.
Standard-issue influenza was essentially wiped out in North America in 2020, even with the half-assed masking and social distancing that so many people were doing. If we can get even a fraction of that effect every year, we’re talking millions fewer infections and potentially thousands to tens of thousands fewer deaths, every year, just from influenza. So during flu season, if I’m going somewhere where I expect to be in a crowd, there’s a good chance I’ll wear a mask.
Sometimes I think the worst part of this whole anti-mask, anti-vaxx argument we’re having is that so few people have realized how effectively we body-slammed influenza. In any normal year, this would have been one of the biggest stories of the year.
Only 37% of Americans even have a valid passport. And probably a good fraction of those haven’t used it in years.
Yeah, I don’t necessarily mean under all possible conditions, but I see no reason not to wear one in the grocery store or when going to a convention. On the fairly rare occasions when I do go to a restaurant, I’m not going to bother–but that’s just because it was always a little silly since you take it off for eating; you just aren’t cutting your exposure risk by much.
I haven’t gotten so much as a head cold the past two years. Normally, I get at least one per year, sometimes two or three.
The last couple of years have reinforced my feelings to lessen my being a part of society.
This time has brought more clearly to the surface how bad many things have become.
The political, social, medical, hysterics. I am not pointing at any particular left, right, social group, ideology.
Everything becomes more extreme, polarized, us, them. Okay to lie, cheat, hurt, for our side. We have facts, they have lies. But we are also justified in our lies. To protect from their lies.
Those things, people, that are not already corrupt will be cowed, silenced, disappeared, or finally corrupted by the corrupt.
Our side is justified to do what is required, to make all be a grateful part of our perfection.
I opt out.
I use(d) mine yearly pre-pandemic. It expired shortly after the start of the pandemic, but for awhile I couldn’t renew it.
After skipping our yearly visit to St Martin, my gf decided that by January 2022 everything would be sorted out, so she planned a vacation. I scurried to renew my passport, paying extra for expedited service, overnight mailing each way, etc.
I received my updated passport ten days before our trip. I was sweating. A few days later we learned Omicron was hitting the island hard. It looked like the airport would be shutting down. We canceled the fucking trip.
I’m not bitter, nosiree
I’m sure you’re right. Nevertheless, I normally travel abroad quite a lot, so for me I can’t live a normal life even if I wanted to.
65, triple vaccinated, have had Covid. Also had surgery and radiation therapy for prostate cancer over the last two years, currently on hormone therapy (ADT) and am in “bio-chemical remission.” I honestly don’t know how careful I should be, but I’m going with “better safe than sorry” for the foreseeable future, like 3-5 months
I expect the more prudent among us will be masking for the rest of our lives.
I’ve been a semi-reclusive-semi-hermit for the past 25 years so Covid hasn’t changed my life-style too extremely.
I suppose we’ll be needing regular Covid booster shots, just like flu shots, forever, those of use with enough sense to get them.
Lite is pretty much back to normal with us. Mask use is sporadic and not mandated despite it being mandated and widely followed during most of the pandemic. I’m pretty much living my life the way I was before the pandemic. I’m vaccinated, had Omicron, about to get boosted and will likely keep up with any boosters just like I get my flu shot each year.
Same for me.
6 of us are meeting to play music at the coffee shop tomorrow morning. I suspect we’ll be masked. I think our state mask mandate may expire end of the month.
But coffee shops/restaurants have always struck me as ridiculous, w/ people wearing masks when they enter, then taking them off when they sit down…
I travelled to Costa Rica - maybe 5-7 years ago. Not sure when I flew internationally before that. I keep trying to convince myself that I want to travel more extensively, but the hassles/costs just continue to outweigh the appeal.
Honestly, I’m just gonna carry a mask on me, and wear it when I’m breathing a lot of shared air, or if someone else asks me to. Probably won’t go back to indoor movies or restaurants. Air travel, very sparingly.
Until a spooky new variant comes out, I’m gonna live life. I’m vaxxed and boosted, I’ve locked down pretty strictly for 2 years, done everything that was asked, and now I’m starting to get stir crazy.
That doesn’t strike me as reasonable. People aren’t masking up or social distancing because it’s natural or comfortable, but because it’s a good idea during this pandemic. In the future, I only expect people to mask up when they’re sick (like they do in Eastern Asia) or when there’s a new pandemic. We didn’t mask up forever after SARS since it wasn’t necessary for years.
I also hope people get their booster shots, as we don’t want hospitals being overwhelmed again. They really need to come up with something that lasts longer than six months.
To the OP, I’ll return to normal when there’s an Omicron booster shot. Which I might have to take twice, X months apart or something. Ugh. And of course here’s hoping there isn’t Omegon, Delta Plus Rewards or other extremely virulent new variants. It’s my hope that with the majority of the population in my country vaccinated, it will become much like the flu: get a shot every year, wear a mask if you get sick, and otherwise back to normal.
I am pretty sensitive to community case counts. For no super-great reason, I’ve drawn a line at 200/day. At peak omnicron, we were at nearly 10k/day, with god only know how many unofficial positives. 200 in all of Dallas county is very low. You are a lot less likely to catch COVID when there is less in the community.
Once I got my booster shot in December 2021, I decided that it was time for life to get back to normal. I like going to bars and clubs, and meeting people face-to-face. At this point, the health consequences of sitting at home by myself are probably more serious than the possibility of getting COVID. At least, that’s my rationale.
I have rejoined society! : ) I’m just another masked working joe for now, and that’s how I like it. I’ve never been too much on restaurants(worked in many)bars(I’m not a good night owl)and over the past 10 years have mostly given up any formal/nice clothes because I’m always too tired or poor to go to anything fancy(opera/fundraiser parties/etc.)
What I do worry about never doing again has been mentioned- traveling(specifically for long term trips to South India or such)and meeting up for practice or fellowship with other Ashtangis in the world, especially my own corner. I also waffle on the opportunity to learn things long distance or online- I’m okay with a live stream or meetup but terrible at making use of a Zoom playback for later on. I’m currently back to teaching one in person Yoga class per week(and it’s awesome!)but that could go away at any time for safety reasons. I’m not a young 'un anymore, but I ain’t half dead yet so uncertainty has really taken on some unnecessary complexity.
We’re also essentially at the “life is mostly back to normal, but with masks” state, although it started back about a year ago when our kids went back to school full-time.
We figured more or less, that we’re not any more likely to catch COVID if we’re masked up at the grocery store, or in a shop, than our kids who are masked up at school are.
We haven’t quite graduated to eating maskless in restaurants yet, and larger gatherings are out, but we have had a few people in and gone to a few people’s houses for dinner.
I haven’t figured out my personal mask-wearing guidelines for once the authorities claim we no longer need them. I imagine that I’ll just keep an eye on the county health page for a while, and mask up in public if there’s a particularly hot flu or covid season, but otherwise just take my chances.
I’m a little amazed at how fast the case rate seems to be plummeting. According to the county page, we are under 200 cases a day already- Wednesday’s count is apparently 78 cases.
A lot of people are saying this here, but I think “society” overall is back to restaurants without a second thought. We go to restaurants at least three times per week, and they’re as full or more full than before the pandemic. We follow the mask guidelines, but many are starting to disregard them. (previously in this area compliance was nearly 100%).
We’ve been going out to eat since last spring. That said, we only eat out maybe once a month, typically, except when I’m out on business or on vacation. Around here (Chicago), it does still feel to me to be a good bit slower than before the pandemic. People are definitely going out to eat and have been for quite some time, but it’s noticeably quieter (at least to me.) Meanwhile, the three times I’ve been to Arizona and Florida last year (in May and December), it felt like there wasn’t any pandemic whatsoever going on. We couldn’t get in to some places for lunch without a reservation, they were so busy.