NYT 14 day average is still 989 with a 31% positivity rate. I will wait till that one comes down.
I’m not so worried about what society thinks; half of them are too damn dumb to understand masking and vaccination in the first place, and to be able to separate that from political nonsense.
For us, it seems like every time we get comfortable enough, there’s another surge. For example, last summer we actually did eat in restaurants, albeit on the patio, but then there was a late summer/fall Delta surge, a lull, and then the Omicron surge starting in about December, and just now seems to have abated in our area (Dallas, TX).
Oh sure, I was just saying that the county website shows a crazy steep drop in the past week or so- the 14 day average almost certainly still overlaps the peak of the surge.
Personally I’m with you- I’m not doing anything different until everything’s been more or less calm and at a steady state for several weeks.
I’m vaccinated, not-yet-but-will-be-soon boosted, and recovered from Omicron. All my family is in the same boat except my two kids had the alpha strain last year. I’m sick of wearing a mask everywhere but the alternative is not an option regardless of government or local mandates.
I’ve tried to limit my grocery shopping to once a week at most, and if possible utilize curbside service. Today I had to run down to our local Try-N-Save for a couple of dinner items I didnt have and, with the exception of myself, the employees, and a couple of old people, every single person in the store was unmasked. There are big “mask required” signs at the entrances of course. At this point they’re simply being ignored. I wont do that, as much as I want to.
So part of me is ready to join the maskless as soon as the numbers start dropping. Another part of me will still feel anxious in a movie theater or small restaurant, neither of which we’ve been to since February 2020. I’m not sure when, or even ever, I’ll feel comfortable in a crown again.
I am not getting on an international flight or eating indoors at a restaurant anytime soon. I’m working remotely, because I have an accommodation on account of crappy lungs (I get bronchitis and asthma exacerbations when I get a regular cold, let alone COVID). I REALLY miss restaurants, hanging out indoors with friends, and travel, but I’m hanging in there for a while yet. I think it’s premature to end the indoor mask mandates and it will be interesting what my employer has to say about masking in the office. (The previous end of the office mask mandate lasted ~ 3 weeks, and then Delta hit.) I may stick to masked grocery shopping for a while yet, and these days that’s just about the only indoor exposure I have to people outside my household. Was invited to an indoor concert in April in a small venue; we’ll see what I feel like by then, but if I go at all, I will likely remain masked the whole time.
I don’t know how I’ll decide, and was hoping to see more discussion here. My life isn’t remotely normal, and the big things are things that aren’t my choice: The venue that hosts my favorite hobby is a university that’s closed to non-students. International travel is rough. Other things are my choice: I’m not comfortable going to a restaurant, despite loving eating out. (The “wear a mask until you get to your table” thing seems ridiculous, and doesn’t make me feel safer in the slightest.) Some are collective choices, like not hanging out with friends indoors.
Some changes seem good, and i hope to keep them. I see no reason to ever take the subway without wearing a mask. I hope to mostly work from home going forward.
But I’d like to travel, eat out, dance, and visit friends. Dunno at what point i feel safe, my friends feel safe, venues open, etc.
Heh, I still go out of my way to do this, and it drives my gf nuts. We are both vaccinated and boostered. I’ll be getting my second booster tomorrow. She wears a mask only if the venue posts it as a requirement, I wear one kinda always.
I wear a mask as a political statement.
During the height of the pandemic I was going into homes of people dead and dying of Covid on a nightly basis. After being vaccinated and getting Omicron going out does not feel dangerous.
In December/January just about everyone I knew got sick. Lately no one. Omicron swept through quickly.
That’s a thing? A SECOND booster?
Certain individuals who are immunocompromised may receive up to four doses of COVID-19 vaccine, which includes two primary doses of an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna), an additional primary dose, and a booster dose.
I’m on an immunosuppressive drug for my polymyalgia rheumatica.
Additionally, last month we canceled our vacation in St Martin due to Omicron hitting the island hard. We are going to try to go in late March, otherwise we’ll lose all our $$. There are less restrictions on travel to the island if a vaccine has been received recently.
Do we have to rejoin society? For awhile there it was kind of like introvert paradise. Even the planes stopped flying over my house. Deer and possums were taking over business districts. But I guess it couldn’t last.
Well, tastes vary, but I would like to rejoin society.
I never left society fully. Went into irk, shopped at stores, etc. The only thing I haven’t gone back to is going to the movies. I’m going to England in May to celebrate my retirement. The trip was supposed to happen in 2020.
I’m with you - separately, that is. Unless we get to choose the society we rejoin…
As a middle aged white guy driving a pickup truck in Ottawa this week, I’ve been making a point of wearing my mask more just so no one thinks I’m one of the convoy jerks screwing up our city.
Got it yesterday. I came prepared with info on my phone justifying my request, but it was unnecessary. I said I was there for a Pfizer booster and it was given. Five minutes, in&out.
Pain at the site, some chills last night. Fine now.
Good to know. My doctor entered my booster from the vaccine study i joined into my official state record, and i had mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, if i need to prove i have a booster, i can, now. On the other, I had thought that an advantage of getting an “off the books” vaccine was that i could go get another if i felt that would be helpful.
The preprint of data from my study convinced me that i had a legit booster, though. (Every single dot showed an immune response to original-flavor, beta, and Delta, which is all they had to test when i gave my sample.)
(my doctor also added my initial vaccine doses to my state record. They were already there. So my record now shows 5 total doses. But since two pairs are the same vaccine in the same date, i figure anyone who looks at it will understand it’s just the same thing listed twice.)
I have spent the last two years as retirement with training wheels. The first with half time normal life, this second full remote and removed. I plan to get back to the gym and traveling a bit, however I’ll continue to mask. Why? Because while I may be fully vaccinated and okay, I can be an asymptomatic carrier and those who are immunocompromised or who have younger kids that can’t get a vaccine don’t deserve me potentially spreading a virus we still don’t know enough about, and which has yet to finish mutating. I don’t plan to start flying anytime soon not because of the virus but the loss of social tolerance and morality leading to an increase in violence and disturbance that I find intolerable. I feel this is a result of the last two years and prior 3 years of divisive rhetoric causing a rift.
I’ll have to ask about this (second booster) when I next see my doc (late April). I’m not immunosuppressed but I do have several medical conditions that make me higher risk. We’re travelling shortly after I see the doc - by train, for a delayed gathering of friends (postponed now twice), so possibly that qualifies as rejoining society.
Though I think we’ll continue to mask for the indefinite future.
Most people I see in stores nowadays seem to still be wearing masks. Of course, the two places I go are Costco (rare), and the grocery store (ditto, and always off hours).
I MIGHT be willing to attend my street’s July 4th party (outdoors) this year, though we have not gone the past few years. When neighbors offered to host a Super Bowl party this year, we did not even consider going, nor did we go to the indoor Christmas party. Dunno if we’ll do that this coming year… likely not.