raising hand and swings hair back and forth jauntily
This fully-vaccinated gal just got back from her first salon haircut in 15 months. It was probably the most relaxing hour I’ve had in a year…
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As an introvert who actually appreciated not having to go to events I didn’t want to go to, or having to come up with a valid excuse to say no, I laughed when I saw this on Twitter:
“now that I’m fully vaccinated, I just want you to know that I still won’t be able to make that thing because I don’t want to come.”
DH is very very social, so we will resume our back and forth now, with him wanting to go to every single thing, and me still wanting to only go to a few of them.
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Totally agree with this statement.
Everyone I know in real life has been out and about since last summer. Maybe not socializing to the same extent as before, but smaller gatherings and restaurant dining have been happening all along. We’ve all been getting haircuts and going to doctor’s and dentist appointments. I’ve spent 10 nights in hotel rooms in the past year. So many here seem like they are just peeking out of lockdown and are afraid to venture out even after being vaccinated. It’s like two different worlds.
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It’s because so many refused to change how they lived that the US death toll is what it is. My uncle died because he and my aunt “had” to go out to eat daily. Take out wasn’t good enough. The semi-fortunate ones (like my aunt) survived it, though time will tell if the new issue in her head near her ear is related or not. The very fortunate ones either didn’t come into contact or had the genetics to not have problems. The others?
No regrets here doing our best to stay safe. I guess part of what gave us our direction was having a long hauler 20 something son get it a year ago March when it was new and seeing what it could do to anyone of any age.
But yes, we have a few sets of neighbors who have always gotten together like nothing ever happened. It annoys us, but we just stay away and talk about them with our similar minded sets of neighbors. (I’m sure they talk about us too.)
I know in the beginning these folks talked about how Sweden was “doing it right.” My guys were curious how it all turned out for that country, so this past weekend we did some google searching comparing them to Finland and Norway (Nordic neighbors who chose a more drastic shut down plan). Their death toll was worse (13,000+ compared to (800+ and 600+, Sweden has twice the population for comparison).
Their economic drop was similar to their neighbors (and slightly worse).
They still don’t have herd immunity.
One has to wonder what the US could have done had our citizens all chosen differently instead of some pretending everything was fine.
Hopefully at least the vaccines will come to our rescue putting an end to most of it. We lost more people that we needed to for what was likely no economic or herd immunity gain.
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I think there is a large area between never leaving your house for a year and throwing caution to the wind and eating out every day. I went to the grocery store, dentist, had my hair cut 3-4 times in the past year. My mother went to church many times with an appointment and about 100 people in a church that easily holds 1000 (family groups assigned areas, masks on, no singing). I always wear a mask, I try not to do things that bring workers into danger like get too close or cough on them.
I have many friends who claim to have never left their homes for a year, but that just isn’t true. They traveled but claimed they never came in contact with anyone. Really? No one at gas stations, picking up food, when they got to their destinations? What if they’d had car trouble or needed medical care? Their traveling or picking up food from grocery stores caused others to ‘work.’ One friend imposed (IMO) on her family and neighbors to do all the shopping she said was too dangerous to do.
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Could it be we have more than our share of introverts on this forum? The extroverts are either already out (or anxious to get out), whereas the introverts are content to connect with our CC friends?
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I know people who are on both extremes. I have a friend who was hosting 21 yesterday for Easter dinner. I know another person who really has hardly left his apartment in a year. I think he may do some required shopping (whatever he can’t get delivered), he has not seen his family in this year (they are a plane ride away), and has only seen friends outside in good weather maybe 2-3 times.
We were definitely in between - stayed safe but did not hide out at home. We hiked and rode our bikes, went to the drive in, took 2 trips (skiing and a wine tour) that consisted entirely of outdoor activities, ate at restaurants with outdoor service, continued to grocery shop and go to doctors appointments. I even had outpatient surgery. We will start doing some things again but are unlikely to dine in any restaurants or go to huge indoor events any time soon. Outdoor events only for the time being and I’ll wait on going back to the hair or nail salon for now. I do plan on going back to the gym but only to swim in the outdoor pools. Once most people are vaccinated, we’ll return to our normal routines.
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Agreed. We Creeklanders are in that in between area TBH, trying to stay safe, but not 0 risk except 2 weeks before we went to be with FIL each time. We learned what was reasonably safe (outdoor things with a bit of distance, < 15 minutes indoors if possible, masked any time there was contact, etc) and chose our actions accordingly.
Those around me that I was talking about in my previous post are in the extreme of changing nothing from Time 0 to now and their reasons are, “Sweden’s done it right” along with, “You just need to trust God just like you do when you get in the car - if it’s your time, it’s your time.” One of them even gave me a book to increase my faith. 
FWIW, we wear seat belts, don’t use cell phones at all when driving, and consider safety features when buying cars too.
I trust God to have given me a mind I can use to reason with and intelligent people working in different fields to provide information about how to be more safe.
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We did weekly grocery shopping trips, had our Rx mailed to us and did telehealth for MDs only until we were fully vaccinated. We have dined once indoors after fully vaccinated at a restaurant wirh fewer than 10 people total in it. I have also dined once outdoors with a friend when we were both fully vaccinated.
I have not stayed in any hotels nor traveled in 2020 nor 2021. I am more comfortable shopping in stores now, as well as uncrowded farmers markets.
People have been patiently waiting their turn to be vaccinated in our state, including folks with chronic health conditions which increase their risk.
We will be having “coffee” with our fully vaccinated neighbors tomorrow. Today, I’m having physical therapy with a fully vaccinated PTist.
I lived our lives but with caution. but never stopped it. We did grocery shopping, outdoor dining, and I did cat adoptions on the weekends (at times double masked). Got my hair done and went to doctors. We went on a vacation to Mexico, but flew in the front of the plane, and stayed outdoors most of the time. (during the fall lull). We took our son to school in Aug. We quarantined when we had to (during winter surge). We tested often. I did shop in some stores (but avoided Walmart). Wore Sonovia masks or Kn95. We carefully socialized.
We are now fully vaccinated. I now single mask. I will eat in a restaurant. My Anxiety is way down . I will be going to a baseball game with 30 percent capacity.
I will not be going to crowded bars , etc though I will follow rules…
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This is where I wish we had the option for a poll feature on our threads.
I think there are more lurkers than we may thing here. And introverts are probably more likely to NOT reveal their point of view/action. Or people are avoiding being judged (which could go either direction, staying home or going out).
While I put off having a haircut for awhile (but did not wait a year!) I did keep things like dentist appointments. I work in health care and honestly to me once PPE was put in place and mandatory masking and such, to me a health care facility was one of the safest places to be! Unless your dentist operates from a inpatient COVID floor!!! 
Hate the phrase but, “you do you” as long as you keep “me” safe too.
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Even before COVID-19, dental offices were getting paranoid, with masks, shields, etc. being typical (though the temperature check theater only occurred after COVID-19).
I figure the next dental visit will no longer have much elevated risk. By then, I will be fully vaccinated, and the dentist and hygienist will be fully vaccinated (they had gotten or were about to get their first shots the last time a few months ago). So it is unlikely that we will give each other the virus (requires a breakthrough infection in one, followed by a breakthrough infection in the other after exposure despite the usual PPE that they wear).
An unvaccinated other patient bringing virus into the office is the other possibility, but that would still require both exposure to the virus and a breakthrough infection. Demographics of the area do suggest that there will be relatively few voluntarily unvaccinated people, although it may be longer than most areas before everyone who wants vaccine can get it.
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Our state has Aug as when 85% will be fully vaccinated. DC and CA are slightly later than that.
Oh, my gosh, same with my husband and me. He’s already asking vaccinated people if they want to come up and visit us. I would be happy if nobody (other than close friends and family) visited us. I do fine one-on-one, but even in a group of three I clam up.
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I’m not an introvert. I’m also cautious. When our state opened for dentists and hairdressers, I did both.
My hairdresser is in a newly renovated space with excellent ventilation…plus its huge and only 2 hairdressers were allowed to work initially…so four people fully masked in a HUGE room with a lot of distance between patrons. Yes, my hairdresser was close. I’ve known her for almost 30 years, and I wasn’t concerned.
My dentist…well…let’s just say…it’s a very sanitized place anyway. I wasn’t worried. Again, very limited number of people allowed in.
I also went to the eye doctor. Talk about a place where they get close! Again…it’s a medical practice. They take precautions anyway.
And I had surgery on October 1 with follow up visits…again…I wasn’t worried.
I have three friends who I have seen for patio dining since May…every two weeks except in Dec, Jan and Feb we only went one time each month. I know these folks very well, and it never dawned on me that outdoor dining was a huge risk.
I also never had groceries delivered.
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This is totally me.
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When I think about danger in a dentist’s office, I think that is one of THE most dangerous places to be-if you are the dentist and the hygienist/assistant. I would hate to have to be dealing with people with their mouths open, breathing freely in a small space, all day long, every day. I think anesthesiologists or anyone who has to intubate people, especially COVID patients, has it the worst, but dentists would have to be a close second or third.
How has the protection for dentists/staff evolved over the course of the pandemic?
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I may be an introvert but that just means, for me, I don’t really care for group gatherings. I do really enjoy small get togethers, like lunch with one or two friends, or dinner with dh and another couple or two. Once fully vaccinated, I really look forward to being able to do those things safely again. But I don’t miss the company holiday parties, the neighbor’s St. Paddy’s Day bash, etc. I don’t even miss eating in a restaurant, but will eventually do so.
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I had my 2nd COVID dental visit a couple weeks ago. As best as I can remember, my hygienist had a disposable surgical mask and a face shield. Maybe some type of eye wear.
My first visit was 6 months before that so mid summer? She was covered like an astronaut!
Protocol still the same for the front of the office. Only one person at a time registering, plastic guard between receptionist and patient, sanitized pens for forms, etc.
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