That doesn’t align with anything I’ve seen. Everyone still touts the 2 weeks for maximum protection, same as before (Example). And I found a study from Israel which found that the risk of severe illness is lower at 12 days than at 4 or 6.
As for the OP: I go out masked in public. I’ve eaten out exactly twice, with other vaxxed people. The first I just didn’t know what to expect. The second I was told the waitstaff wore masks, but then our waiter didn’t. However, both of these cases were when COVID-19 had fallen below 10 people per day.
I have otherwise only been to houses where everyone is vaccinated, and I have went maskless there once everyone was vaccinated. I am watching for data both on infections in my area and on omicron to see what happens.
The main house I’ve been to just all went to Disney World. They’re all young, and they wear masks. But I still refuse to see them again for 14 days after they return, unless they test after five days and come back negative. I also have convinced my dad of the same—or, at least, he’s acted like it was reasonable when I brought it up as something he should do, too, because of his asthma.
If you’re vaccinated and are careful around people who may be higher risk, I don’t judge you for the risk level you’re comfortable with. I do judge those who don’t wear masks in places where the CDC still says you should, though.
We are both fully vaccinated (I am boosted, too). No indoor dining for us, and I am working 100% remotely (Tom Scud has to go to the office 3x/week, but it’s a small building, he has his own office, and masking is required. I have no idea why an editor should need to be in the office, but that’s a rant for another day). I never stopped masking indoors in public places and even at my mom’s place, except for a brief moment preDelta when it seemed like going to my nephew’s birthday party with half a dozen people at my sister’s place might not be insane if everyone were fully vaccinated).
I am writing this post from a balcony in Puerto Rico overlooking the water, though. PR is the most vaccinated place of its size in the US, and people are taking things seriously. I just had my hands spritzed with sanitizer and my temperature taken on the way into the grocery store yesterday, and lots of people are masking even outdoors. We wore N95 masks on the plane and in the airport. PR requires vaccination or negative test within 48 hours for entry, plus registration in a surveillance app. I just got an email asking me to self-report any symptoms. This level of caution is why we chose to come here. We are staying in self-contained AirBnBs. We blew off the free hotel breakfast near San Juan the first night because we couldn’t take it out of the restaurant.
This past weekend my sister about 4 hrs away ask me and another sister if we’d join her family for Saturday Thanksgiving. After some thought, we decided to go. Mixed reactions - tho not entirely comfortable.
It turned out to be larger than we expected - closer to 20 people instead of the 10-ish we expected. At least 1 adult and 2 young kids not vaxxed. Everyone eating inside in one large “great room.” Many of the people had attended T-day events earlier in the week, so the expanded exposure was likely pretty huge.
So - do I think the risk was HORRIBLE? Not really. But I WAS somewhat uncomfortable about it, and I’m not in a rush to anything close to that. (My BIL is in advance stages of Huntington’s, so I was glad to see him after 2+ yrs. But EVERYONE has situations like that…).
My other exposure - I play a lot of bluegrass/oldtime music. A group of us play weekly jams at a couple of coffee houses. Our small groups play and sing unmasked, in coffeeshop where the patrons are unmasked. We are separate from the patrons, and al of us are vaxxed, but I’m pretty sure that is unwise/ill-advised of us. But as I constantly decide what I do or do not do, I guess that is one of the few risks I’ve decided to take. If the shops told us to mask, I probably would - or I’d decide not to play.
I’m vaxxed and I get my booster next week. I’m probably more complacent than I should. Very few places require masks so I don’t use them unless I have to. I stay masked and keep distance from my mother when I see her. We all tested before we had thanksgiving dinner.
I went to town today and walked into the Ace Hardware masked. The sign on the door said they encouraged unvaccinated people to wear masks, and it looked like I was the only “unvaccinated” person in the place. When I was checking out, the guy behind me didn’t seem to notice the “stand here” marks on the floor until I started coughing and sneezing.
I’m feeling bullet proof and I’m so over this stupid orange tinted plague it’s not funny.
We’re still pretty much locked down - and I admit that the pandemic fatigue is real.
2 of the 4 adults in the household have boosters (me, my husband). My son knows he needs to get one, just hasn’t gotten around to it, ditto the housemate.
We’ve definitely bypassed some events: WorldCon is local to us this year - and I’d really been looking forward to going, but my husband was concerned and so we decided not to. We have not attended a neighborhood get-together since March 2020.
We ARE still going to visit our daughter in Vermont after Christmas but we’re nervous about it; while rates in VT aren’t all that high, and people are still wearing masks, we will travel through parts of PA and NY where masks definitely seem to be optional. We are also considering the possible, and somewhat urgent, need to visit the in-laws in “We don’t need no steenking maskses” Florida.
We are avoiding movies, most restaurants, and malls. Groceries are still being done via InstaCart / store pickup; the one time I went to the grocery store, it was busy enough that I felt twitchy. Ditto the occasional trip to Costco (I can do Senior Hours, but there’s that pesky job…).
My husband does get his hair cut - he truly was getting rather scary looking (receding hairline, curly hair, at a length too long for comfort but too short to ponytail). He was so thrilled when he got vaccinated and could go to the barber again. My hair was overdue for a cut BEFORE March 2020, and it’s now longer than it has ever been in my life.
We’re not QUITE as paranoid as we were - for example, we did not freak when our son wanted to go to the neighborhood party last weekend (though he stays in his room most of the time).
I’ve never been really comfortable but since getting the booster, I’ve been slowly easing back to normalcy. I saw this morning that my county, just west of you, has seen the 7 day avg of new cases go up 3 1/2 times from exactly one month ago. It looks like the state, as a whole, is pretty close to that as well.
Yet, my company is pushing ahead on return to the office. I’ll go in for mandatory meetings, but other than that, I’m going back to locking myself down as much as possible.
Yeah - last I looked Will, Kane, etc were among the state’s highest. But I’m always confused about that % positive tests. Does that reflect how many people are testing and why?
A couple of weeks ago they said our office would be going back in w/ the new year, but I haven’t heard anything since. That will be a complete CF, as we deal with a somewhat unhealthy and not terribly sophisticated segment of the public. Just wrangling them in the waiting room will be a nightmare…
Boy, it would be nice if the state/counties would require proof of vaccination in stores, restaurants, etc.
I’ve been playing music w/ a couple of groups in coffee shops - unmasked. I’m going to stick with just the one smaller one. Max 7 of us - all vaxxed/boostered. Prob min age 60 - no party animals. Separate from the patrons, who remove their masks while eating/drinking.
The bigger one felt riskier - and was less fun for a number of reasons.
Yeah - a risk. But just about the only risk I take outside of my pretty circumscribed “bubble.”
AIUI, the general idea is that if a large percent of the tests are coming back positive, then not enough people are being tested and a problematic number of positive cases are likely not being counted. Depending on who’s talking, the desired positivity rate is something less than 10%, or even something less than 5%.
A month ago, practically nobody in San Antonio was wearing a mask except for my family and I. Today, I was out and about and nearly everyone is wearing a mask again. This happened with the Delta surge too. I’m now convinced that people are masking up as suggested by the news, which is not a bad thing.
Not comfortable enough to to attend the family Xmas do. My niece (a nurse!) pulled her kids out of a mask mandated school to send them to a no masks school. And she spent T-day at a resort and posted a ton of pics of the kids and her and her S.O. enjoying themselves in crowd, sans masks. Nope.
Just cancelled our trips over the holiday. #1 daughter was supposed to go to visit a friend while the rest of us go to New York City where she was going to join us for the last few days.
I’m boosted as of yesterday, but my wife and kids aren’t. My wife is eligible tomorrow due to a provincial announcement yesterday, but the clinics have not ramped back u yet so there is nothing available. The kids are not eligible at all and will be at the 6 month mark in 10 days.
I’m not concerned about getting sick with Covid at this point as much as the logistics of testing, as well as quarantine if someone tests positive. It just makes cross border travel that much less attractive. We still have a trip to Florida booked for mid-Feb.
My comfort level has always followed the case numbers. When they are low, I will indoor shop masked and outdoor dine unmasked. I had a weird experience last week with outdoor dining. I was with a friend at one of our favorite places. We always go in the afternoon to avoid lunch crowds. There would usually be two or three other tables occupied. But this time people were at several tables, including the ones on either side of us. I had not been around that many unmasked people before. I was surprised at how anxious I felt and said I needed to leave. My friend was ok with the situation but didn’t want me to be uncomfortable so we left. There won’t be any more outdoor dining until spring and I wonder how long it will take me to get used to being around crowds of unmasked people if things have gotten better by then.
I’m hanging out with friends tomorrow for probably the last time for a few months. Cases are rising and Omicron is here just in time for the holidays. The ICUs are back to 92% full already. As with Delta, I just plan to stay out of its way. And I’m as ok with that as one can be.
I follow the rules. Don’t mind doing them too much. I did not like being blackmailed into getting the vaccine. Not because I don’t believe in vaccines. I just wanted one that is yet to be approved. I am only moderately concerned of what will happen if I catch it. Prefer Omicron, with sprinkles. I am prepared to fight it off hard. Taking extra vitamin D. Multi vitamins. Have Zinc and Quercetin, etc… Wish I could get Ivermectin.
I don’t lead a healthy lifestyle, but according to the Doc I am very healthy for my age.
This is a good point – the situation throws in an uncertainty factor; for instance, if someone already had things planned on 2 Jan, that person is going to have to worry if an announcement comes out this Wednesday that now they’ll be required to have a less-than-2-day test result in hand, will there be enough availability for that on the 31st.
