How often do you receive pushback from friends over still taking the pandemic seriously? Is anyone who pushes back worth keeping as a friend? What exactly does your kind of socializing look like during this pandemic (i.e. virtual and/or outdoors and/or in indoor private settings)?
I'm trying to get back out there because I've been in a bad spot mentally and have found it hard to trust people more broadly, but the way I'm currently living is probably not healthy for me, and I feel like I do need some kind of support system beyond my family and the one friend actually still taking the pandemic as seriously as me. But as I try to get out of my house more, I need to figure out the kind of boundaries I want to set, the kinds of activities that I feel comfortable with (definitely a preference for outdoor stuff), etc.
One of the groups I used to hang out with—mostly libs—I no longer really see, because they got "tired of" wearing masks. Their attitude became, "If you want to wear one, that's fine, but I won't," which is not the way it fucking works.
The leftist groups have stayed very conscious and respectful of everyone's COVID concerns, though, so all good there.
I hate going to the store now, because there'll be like 2 people wearing masks, and everyone else doesn't hesitate to breathe their 'rona germs all over the place, and only back away for social distancing reluctantly when I give them a nasty look or explicitly ask. Still never eat out or anything.
Went to the store and there were people pretty violently hacking coughs without a mask.
No one wants to admit they're sick and everyone is a typhoid mary. We can't even do the asian pre-pandemic thing of at least having courtesy to wear a mask if you have any sort of sickness symptom.
Meanwhile I still see people with "Fuck Trudeau" bumper stickers and giant :kkkanada: flags waving from their 50k+ trucks (for vaccine reasons that don't make sense, not for cool reasons), and there are still 'protesters' with signs that say "mandate freedom" even though we got rid of every single precaution possible.
Canadians really are just diet americans.
One of the things i dont miss at all in canada is dealing with people who have 90k pickups with "fuck trudeau" stickers on the rear windshield. They tried to run me off the road nearly every time.
Hmm, I've been thinking about getting involved with my city's Foods Not Bombs chapter (:im-vegan:) to potentially meet some comrades. I know that being a leftist doesn't preclude someone from still taking the pandemic seriously, but my assumption has always been that those who still are deeply concerned about the pandemic and care about the plight of the immunocompromised/high-risk are disproportionately left wing.
Yes. FNB kicks fuckin' ass. DO IT!!! I was involved with a local chapter for a while before the pandemic, and then for a little while during but people kinda went off and did their own things and it fell apart again. I've been in a community farming group the whole time though, and that's cool. Growing and sharing fresh produce rather than fully cooked/prepared stuff, but still along the same lines.
Social life is pretty minimal. A few very small groups of non-family people I occasionally interact with. I wear a kn95 mask indoors around people all the time, but have n95's on the way. My family are libs and barely even mask now, so I mask around them for all but meals. The hope is that it'll give me just enough protection that they'll figure out they're sick and isolate before getting me sick. I'm known as someone who marches to their own drum so most people I know don't bother me about it beyond an initial query and, while I'm in a pretty Trump heavy area, I'm also a pretty large, fit guy. So it's rare I get anything more than a dirty look.
Sucks missing out though. I've turned down a wedding, concerts, and birthday parties that were too big for my comfort. Also stopped working with a children's charity I was involved with for decades that recently started back up because I didn't feel it should be continuing with the state of things. Honestly, I feel more isolated by the complete lack of concern for long term survival among the people I care about than anything else.
Honestly, I feel more isolated by the complete lack of concern for long term survival among the people I care about than anything else.
This describes me perfectly, too. As the vast majority of libs are now in complete lockstep with Team Blue saying the pandemic is over and eschewing any kind of precaution, I've never felt more isolated during any point of the pandemic than I do now.
:meow-hug:
I know it's a small consolation, but just remember that propaganda works and these people, the people we care about, that we see doing absolutely dumb shit are swimming in a sea of lies 24/7 that are encouraging their disregard for themselves and others. It's a small miracle you and i were even lucky enough to make it here. The chains of Capitalism may be more mental than physical in our society, but we're gonna free them one way or another.:fidel-salute:
They had an online rsvp thing thing so I just declined and left a note how I wish they had an amazing day, gave them a cash gift, and left it at that. They knew from a previous text convo that I was really conflicted over the whole thing and was holding off on replying because I was still trying to take covid seriously. We're close enough for me to be invited but not super close where we talk all the time, so I probably felt more bad about it than they did. And I had heard from a mutual friend that they understood some people weren't going to be showing up because of covid so that took some of the pressure off. Honestly the big regret is that would probably have been the last opportunity to see my friends in that group all together again before more adulting type shit happens. We're all middle age and half the small friend group is libs who got vaxxed and think they can do anything and the other half is anti-vaxx who think they can do anything, so I'm expecting we're gonna lose someone in the next few years to come... Especially since the wedding is going to be next month when we're fully into the surge. :deeper-sadness:
I don't know what your relationship is like with these people or whatever, but honestly, unless you're openly willing to die on the hill about covid like I am, I would just be ambiguous about it. Give some vague regrets about not being able to show and then let them enjoy their day and face the consequences that come with it. It's not like you're going to get them to change their minds with a frontal confrontation or anything. Good luck!🤞
Ah, I feel ya. It's bullshit that we have to go through this for what is a worldwide disabling event, but it turns out "personal responsibility" just means we have to take the flak for the government's failures. Hopefully your friend understands. :meow-hug:
Never receive pushback because my friends are cool and nice. Social life continues to revolve around outside restaurants and bars and breweries (mostly the latter) as well as hanging out in back yards or garages. It's nice.
Oh, and hiking and camping and such of course.
Me entering the semester: “maybe I will try to talk to some girls this year”
Me seeing that 99.99% people in my school are done with COVID: :waltuh:
I’m gonna try to keep an eye on this new leaked variant. Though it is tempting to just take it off outside of very dense areas like a classroom
I get to sit in the little room at the front of the plane for hours while the other guy rambles about how lockdowns are literally 1984. Fun tines!
No meetings in-person since last November, except with my parents once after my mom burst into tears on a video call. As for friends, all of the things I used to do with them (TTRPGs, video games, movie nights) can be done online, so we're still doing that. Some have started doing some stuff IRL again, but they're also being generally cautions (wearing masks at work, when getting groceries, etc) and are 100% aware that the pandemic is not "over" and in-person meetups are dangerous no matter what precautions they take.
Given that COVID seems likely to be around for ever because our governments can't be asked to prevent mass death, I'm probably going to re-evaluate in the new year if I want to start doing IRL stuff too with small groups, especially given that I got it anyway after they removed the mask mandate at my work.
Do y'all make yourself and your friends take COVID tests before visiting them? Or maybe only situationally, i.e. if you're going to be spending time indoors with them?
For whatever good it does lmao, I know those test kits can have quite a few false positives/negatives. I've also increasingly heard that swabbing the throat/mouth AND nostrils more effectively can detect COVID, even though that obviously isn't the authorized use of the test kits, idk. But in the absence of any actual public health policy, probably still one of the best individual ways to keep ourselves and others safe I suppose.
Sometimes. Depends on the circumstances. For the most part the social bubbles I still touch on are pretty isolated, and everyone is really careful to isolate and do a PCR test after risky activity like traveling. The rapid tests are unreliable enough and limited enough in purpose that IMO it's almost better to pretend they don't exist, unless you absolutely MUST do something face-to-face (indoors) after reasonable suspicion of potential exposure.
I still only meet people outside and only go some place if I have to (usually doctor's appointments) and that's with an N95 mask.
I've got a few autoimmune diseases and it sucks. Covid will likely kill me. My experience with chronic illness has convinced me I might not want to be alive if I get more chronic illness and that scares me. Long covid scares me. It sounds a LOT like having an autoimmune disease and I promise you, you do not want to live that way.
That said, it's gonna be hard to navigate this world going forward. I wish we had a government that cared.
I do not go outside, not even groceries
only walking/gardening
Wear masks except around other people who wear masks in small settings.
Hard to find rpg players because we have to be compatible on covid and the rpg, it sucks
Also my close friends have recently stopped taking it seriously and it angers me deeply, I dont know what to do though, theyre like 95 percent of my social interaction
