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As a sign that the worst of the pandemic is over, the New York Times is discontinuing their "At Home" section. They started this during the early days of covid. It's a special Sunday section, generally rather upbeat, with advice and information, especially about health and at-home activities. They did lists of books to read, recipes to try (five recipes every week), TV shows to stream, Newspaper craft ideas, etc.
This ending edition has fun front-page art by Andrew Rae showing 12 squares illustrating people finally leaving their homes:
Have to admit it was a surprise how pleasurable a mundane trip to the local hardware store for paint thinner could be. Breezing through the door without fumbling for a mask gave me lovely little thrill! Gotta find those little joys in life.
I sense more stress now because there is a mix of maskless and masked, and uncertainties regarding the maskless. At least before, everybody was on the same page with the same precautions. Now it's more Russian roulette, so to speak.
I sense more stress now because there is a mix of maskless and masked, and uncertainties regarding the maskless. At least before, everybody was on the same page with the same precautions. Now it's more Russian roulette, so to speak.
Only Russian roulette for the unvaccinated. More and more is being learned daily about the effectiveness of the vaccines available in the U.S.. The likelihood of getting covid is very small and the likelihood of dying from it is even smaller after a vaccine and the appropriate waiting period for full immunity. In the past few days some new information is coming out on the need for a booster and the timing. A few months ago they thought it might be 6-7 months. The newest thinking is longer, as long as a few years. Another piece of reporting I read today is that the new cases and deaths are those that are not vaccinated. In some places if you just look at the number of unvaccinated people, their rates of sickness and death are similar to what was happening in January.
Admittedly it still feels odd to be maskless, and I will comply with any masks requests from businesses. At this point my biggest concern is younger children still not eligible for vaccines. I have a couple in my extended family.
Just to put this into perspective: my husband and I were very cautious. We both worked at home for years so that wasn't a concern. I managed to get our grocery shopping down to once a month for most things, and it was often pick-up. (an extra fridge and freezer made that possible). When I did need to enter a store I went as soon as it opened-fewer people. We saw my parents (in their 70s) twice last year. Both times was during the summer, and we spent the entire time outside, distanced. No hugging or physical contact took place. I attended one large family event in September when numbers were pretty low. I was masked the entire time as were many people. My husband didn't attend with me. When I returned we stayed in different parts of the house and slept in different rooms. Anytime we needed to be in the same room we masked up and kept the time to a minimum.
After 14 months of that, I know I've done all I can to remain healthy, to keep my loved ones healthy, and to be responsible for the health of strangers by wearing a mask. If someone wants to be maskless and not vaccinate, that's on them. I hope they don't get sick.
Have to admit it was a surprise how pleasurable a mundane trip to the local hardware store for paint thinner could be. Breezing through the door without fumbling for a mask gave me lovely little thrill! Gotta find those little joys in life.
I think hardware stores are always fun. They are so full of possibilities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by villabella22201
I'm an introvert and although the home isolation didn't bother me one iota, I have to say even I feel relief with the opening up of the world.
Okay, but you know that being an introvert isn't the same thing as being an agoraphobe?
So happy for all of you! I feel like I am in a different world. We never stopped going out, whether it was work or the hardware store.
Enjoy!
This. We had a few weeks where everything was shut down, but that pretty quickly went back to almost normal. There were restrictions of course, but nothing severe. We haven’t really been in quarantine since the very beginning, like March-April of 2020.
So happy for all of you! I feel like I am in a different world. We never stopped going out, whether it was work or the hardware store.
Enjoy!
I was thinking the same thing. We've been to the beach weekly in the warmer months, dined with friends, visited family, etc. I am loading up the kayak tomorrow morning to explore the bay and hopefully catch a redfish. Sunday morning, it's off to the beach for some pompano fishing.
Aside from about 6-weeks from mid-March until May 1st, 2020, life has been relatively the same. I am very happy that those that have not shared our experience are able to so now. Enjoy!
So happy for all of you! I feel like I am in a different world. We never stopped going out, whether it was work or the hardware store.
Enjoy!
Same here. It is so funny to hear some people say how they have not been in a store for a year or whatever. The only thing that changed for me was working from home (which I loved because of my 30-45 min commute) no movie theaters (not that we go often so not a biggie) and eating in sit-down restaurants. We don't eat out much anyway, so it wasn't that big of a deal, and frankly there were many here that opened up outside dining, and we did that several times. But man I go to Lowe's and Home Depot darn near every week - that never changed.
I think the only thing that was a PITA was that you couldn't try clothes on when shopping. Thank goodness they have reopened the fitting rooms LOL.
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Gotta find those little joys in life.