So much has happened in the past two months, I'm not even sure where to begin.
 |
| Pavel Danilyuk for Pexels |
I went out to lunch with two friends and ate indoors in a restaurant for the first time.
My husband worked from his office a few times and had a week-long work event with lots of meetings and activities and dinners out.
I worked from the office with other people twice (and attended meetings and had lunch together in the cafeteria).
My husband and I went to the mall for the first time in 2 years, and had dinner indoors in a restaurant.
There's a new, even more contagious version of Omicron going around, but infection rates don't really reflect reality because most people are just testing at home now, which doesn't get reported anywhere if you're looking at state or county statistics. But hospitalizations and deaths are also staying low.
I went to an all-day event for the student organization I volunteer with (their first in-person event in 2 years).
We still haven't gotten COVID (but my husband did take a home test out of an abundance of caution because he'd been sniffly for a couple days, and had just spent all that time with coworkers).
Through all of the above, my husband and I have been the only people wearing masks indoors 99.9% of the time. Even when eating, we will put them back on as soon as we're finished. It's funny because this whole time he's been saying people have given him such a hard time for wearing his mask diligently. They make fun of him or try to convince him he doesn't need it. Meanwhile, in my experience, when I'm the only person wearing a mask, people act apologetic and ask if I'd prefer they wear one, or just put theirs on. I'm not sure if it's a male/macho expectation thing, or just the way we're presenting ourselves, or what.
At this point, I personally don't care what other people are doing anymore. The majority of people are no longer wearing masks, despite a highly contagious respiratory virus still widely circulating, but I will continue trying to protect myself. I'm still also avoiding indoor and crowded spaces when I can (we've eaten outdoors several times so far this spring and prioritize places and events with outdoor options).
I know many people with COVID right now. For as many activities and events as we've been attending recently, there's also been many that have been cancelled due to someone (or a lot of people) having COVID.
Also the big news today is that Dr. Fauci says we're "out of the pandemic phase."
And there's like a bunch more stuff that has happened: changes in the amount of time recommended to quarantine or isolate after exposure or confirmed infection, no more requirement to wear masks on public transportation or airplanes, Russia's war against Ukraine continues, China is shutting down whole cities again in support of their "Zero COVID" policy, there's still no approved vaccine for kids under 5, a second booster was approved for adults over 50, and there's probably much more I'm forgetting...