Warning – long post abt masking.
CW: incredibly depressing Covid science, and the linked video is hard to watch.
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I’ve had several conversations in the past month, all with people dear to my heart, which started with them asking me some variation on when I planned to go back to the things I once loved, like concerts and restaurants indoors.
It’s 3 years this month. March 13th, 2020, was my last day at the office. Three wild years of masking, social distancing, working remotely, only ever taking the mask off when outside or at home in our bubble.
I have no plans to go back to being unmasked in public places. None whatsoever. I also have no plans to go to more events that consist of crowds of people we don’t know. No concerts indoors yet; no restaurants without an outside area.
This bothered two of the people I was talking with, one of whom expressed it as “not living your life.”
Which took me aback a little, because of two things.
First, we do plenty. We just do it masked. We attend family events and mask the entire time if it’s indoors. We recently attended a birthday brunch, and had a great time even though we didn’t eat. We attended a wedding this past fall and masked even while dancing, and the wedding couldn’t have been lovelier. I’m not sure how that’s not living.
Second, and more importantly, there’s the ‘endangering others’ aspect. We share several common spaces with our 82-yr-old upstairs neighbor. She doesn’t mask while she’s in our common spaces, but she does when she’s out and about, and we don’t want to bring anything home to her.
During the conversations, each person asked me some variation of “You’re vaccinated and so is your neighbor – what are you so worried about?”
Well.
The video I’ve linked below is an update about a popsci YouTube streamer who used to do very active physics communication work before she caught a mild case of Covid in July ’22 and then developed Long Covid, which has gotten worse over time. I am NOT posting this to suggest anyone donate or follow or support this person or anything like that. I’m posting this because so many people think Long Covid is just “oh you get a little winded and get some brain fog and then it goes away.”
It can get a lot worse than that. This video is one of the only visual representations I’ve seen of how debilitating it can be.
The part between 1:15 and 1:35 is what I’m worried about. For me and for everyone.
This person does have an aggressive case, but she isn’t an outlier. According to recent science ( https://www.nature.com/articles/s41579-022-00846-2 ), 10% – 12% of vaccinated individuals still experience terrible symptoms associated with multiple organs.
One out of ten.
If you realized you were queer during a certain time in US history, that phrase has a particular weight to it. One out of ten is *not* a small percentage when it comes to human beings.
I’m not taking a chance on that for myself. I’m not taking a chance on that for my spouse. I’m not taking a chance on that for my beloved neighbor, or anyone else who loves her.
As much as I miss certain things (and as much as the state of my hair aggravates me) I’m protecting my life and the lives of everyone around me.
Even if it takes another three years, or more.
killer puppy tails 