I find myself in a weird place with covid stuff rn, in a spot between one large side thats doing nothing and a smaller side that's overwhelmed by panicked doomerism and individualism. But this shit aint all or nothing. literally anything you do is better than nothing. And what are most people doing right now? absolutely nothing.
the main things i do to reduce my risk of airbourne disease, including but not limited to covid, are:
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wearing a good (ie, kn95 or better) mask when in mixed public groups and where it doesnt get in the way of me living my life. for example, there is almost nothing for me to lose when wearing a mask at a store, or mall, or other public place. I try to wear masks with sipvalves as often as possible, too, so as to avoid having to remove the mask to drink. HOWEVER, i also work a customer facing front of house job and in doing so take WAY MORE risks that most people who use the covid concious label do. I eat lunch inside (albeit generally directly in front of an open window, generally a bit separated from the general public) 5 days a week in a public place. This sort of thing (about 10-15 mins maskless in an 8 hr shift) does not exactly make me lose sleep at night, but the lack of ACTIVE covid fear doesnt mean the mask aint worth wearing. Going out to eat inside is, yes, a massive dice roll, but just because you take it once in a while doesnt mean you need to NEVER wear a mask ever again. Also,
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Air purification and ventilation whenever possible. I've fully turned into a "Show up to the house party with your own air purifier" kind of bitch, and its proved to be quite a convincing rhetorical argument. my friends at work basically only see me masked, and to see me take it off inside is notable and alarming to them. So, when i point to the air purifier and talk about how its doing 5 air changes an hour, they (the non maskers) listen! ive had two separate hosts who dont mask ask me for air purifier recommendations after i brought one to their place. the amazing thing is that there are enough reasons to do this that i dont even have to say the scary C word. I can point out the other very pertinent reason i do it, that has nothing to do with covid: that i have pretty severe cat allergies that make me sneeze and wheeze and generally feel unpleasant around cats...unless the air is purified/ventilated. I just have to say "notice how im not sneezing right now" and talk about my cat allergies and they're convinced. note that these same five air changes an hour are ALSO protecting me against covid, while requiring essentially no work from the end user other than plugging it in, turning it on, and changing the filter every 9-12 months.
Yep. That's it! Doing this has made me largely avoid covid* and other illnesses since 2020 despite spending half of my waking life outside the house and in a relatively poorly ventilated work environment.
Could i be doing more? Absolutely, but this reflects the relative amount of risk im willing to take and still allows me to live my life in public while making me substantially safer. As much as i want to be safe, i also dont want to be the covid equivalent of someone who lives in the suburbs who thinks merely driving through a Black neighborhood in the city will immediately get them carjacked in broad daylight. I dont want long covid, and do what works for me to reduce my likelihood of getting it, but going full Vault-Tech while casually relying on the labour of delivery drivers whose risk is implied to be "more appropriate" or whatever compared to you as a software dev who never has to leave their home and arguing anything else is irresponsible is misguided. at the same time, thats not most people--most people went full vax and relax: please dont talk to me about this covid stuff, i cant deal with it anymore! Me, i get that mentality, but im more "mask and relax". do the stuff that's not that much work like wearing a mask and congrats, you dont have to live your life in fear!
*i have gotten covid twice since the pandemic, both mild infections explained by me taking additional risks not talked about here. i got omicron in late 2021 at the airport/on a plane through a drager bifold n95; the viral loads in the air then were so high that given an hour or so of unventilated exposure its not unreasonable to have gotten a low viral load case through an imperfectly fit n95. Second time was in oct 2023 after attending a wedding, during which i unmasked inside to eat. Again, a low viral load, mild case that my body cleared in five days; my collective time maskless was pretty low and i remasked after which probably helped. My girlfriend, doing the same things as me at the same time and masking the same relative amount, did not get covid. dice roll, like i said.