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What are the main things you’ve been doing to avoid COVID-19? Have you made any big changes in what you’re doing recently? If so, why?

I am not a very social person, and I live in a place with a very small population, so avoiding crowds of people came naturally. I always mask up when I go to a public place. I got the vax as soon as I could. So no big changes in my daily life other than masking in public, which is no big deal at all to me. I have gone to extra effort twice in the past year or so, as I travelled to another state to visit my daughter, her husband and grandchild, and I did everything I could to prepare, in order to both protect myself, but really to protect them. Last December, before the vaccine, I flew to visit for the holidays, and I needed to follow the very serious protocols to enter that hard-hit state, including registering my visit with their state using their online registration. I had to give lots of personal information including my quarantine location, dates of visit, method of travel etc. I had no qualms about providing that info; I do value my privacy but this was a necessary thing to help save lives. I double masked with a N95 mask plus a cotton mask with filter at the airports and on the flight. As required by that state, I had a PCR test on arrival at the airport. I quarantined on arrival for 15 days alone in a rental house before I had any face-to-face contact with anyone. I had groceries delivered and sanitized each item carefully. I had 3 PCR covid tests, evenly spaced, during that quarantine, provided free from their state at a large drive-thru testing site, administered with the assistance of the military and with results online. With negative tests and 15 days of quarantine, I felt comfortable to join the family bubble (who also followed all protocol, masking, etc). We all committed and agreed that this was the way, and that visit stayed healthy. As I write this all out, it does seem like an extraordinary effort, but I felt it well-worth the effort. The alternative would be no visit at all, but my family urged me to visit, and to do what needed to be done, and then they felt safe. It was their choice. There isn't anything I wouldn't do to keep my family safe. Now that I am vaccinated, I did another trip recently, same family (vaccinated spouses and unvaxed 4 year old) and since we know the vaccine is not 100%, I masked indoors at my house with my husband for 10 days before my flight. Again sanitizing everything I came in contact with. Then I used an antigen at-home test twice before I flew. I double masked with a N95 mask plus a cotton mask with filter at the airport and on the flight. I got a PCR test at the airport on arrival, then used an antigen at-home test every single day while I was at their home. My plan was to evacuate their home if I showed positive, because as I understand, that's what the antigen test should do - show the first sign of covid, giving you time to quarantine yourself before you develop a large viral load. My tests were negative each day, so my visit was as safe as I could make it. I was not completely comfortable, but I believe in the science, and I did everything I could possibly do to mitigate risk, and again, it was their choice that I visit and we all agreed to the protocols. I hope to visit them again this year, but I want the grandchild to be able to be vaccinated before I visit again.

August 9, 2021

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