I was serving in the last couple years of my military career when the pandemic started. The military took it very seriously, because we still have a mission that needs to be accomplished. Anyone dropping out for a severe illness would compromise our capabilities.
So we went on full lockdown. No one was allowed to leave military bases unless you lived off-base, in which you were only authorized to go straight home and then back to work. It was highly recommended you order delivery services for groceries and stock up so you wouldn’t need to leave home. Going to the grocery store was the only exception to the lockdown, but it was considered an extreme risk and should be avoided if possible.
Our work shifts (in my unit, anyway) were split in half. Half the crew came in for the morning shift, then thoroughly disinfected the office, locked up, and went home. Then 30 minutes later, the second shift would come in and do the afternoon shift. The 30-minute break ensured no physical contact between shifts. The split-shift allowed a shift to take over full work days in case someone on the other shift got sick. Their whole shift would stay home for 2 weeks to ensure the contagious period passed before sending them back into the office to resume split shifts.
We would’ve moved to work-from-home (WFH), but unfortunately, I happened to be working in an Intelligence unit at the time and 90% of their job was on classified computer systems, which we couldn’t access from outside the office. I was an IT guy, fixing the Intel guys’ computers, so I did WFH for a few months, managing their unclassified computer accounts from a laptop. But eventually, I was needed in the office for their other systems.
We were also required to wear masks outside of our homes at all times. Anyone caught without a mask anywhere - even sitting in our car on the drive to or from work - could be punished for violating a direct order from our base commander. We used to make fun of conservatives who bitched about how uncomfortable the masks were and how they couldn’t breathe while wearing them. We had to wear them all day without breaks, from the moment we left home until the moment we got home. I empathize with emergency room workers; it was brutal, but it wasn’t impossible to do, and we got used to it eventually. After a while, I started to feel naked without my mask on.
In the last 2 years I served, we had a few people drop out with COVID-19 (their civilian families brought it home from their work/school), but the majority of us stayed COVID-free.
When I retired last summer, I moved in with my elderly hermit dad who lives out in the countryside. He avoided leaving his house for the whole pandemic, and even now rarely goes into town. He, my wife, and I are still COVID-free to this day.
My sister and her family caught it 3 times! But my sister married into an ultra-conservative religious family who thought the pandemic was a hoax and continued to hold religious parties and barbeques for the neighborhood all throughout the pandemic (They were anti-vaxxers too; something my sister fought with her husband about long before the pandemic occurred). There were a few scares when she came to care for our father and then got diagnosed with COVID-19 a day or two later. But somehow, my dad never tested positive for COVID antibodies. And despite my sister’s husband losing his sense of taste and smell (which is still not fully recovered to this day), her whole family has thankfully survived their run-in with COVID.
All of the later versions of coven were less deadly and had less of your symptoms and lasted less. It was the first person to covet that really fucking sucked
COVID sucks. Counting my blessings that Ive never caught it. Every single one of my coworkers and their families had it. But they also don’t know how viruses and bacteria operate either.
They habitually stick their philangies in all of their facial orifices without regard for what they may have touched earlier…
I’m in this picture (or, if I’ve had it, it has been asymptomatic - but I doubt that I have), although it’s not as much luck as it was precautions on my side. The first year I would only go out when I need to (and I was working from home full time before that anyway). For some time after I even avoided meeting people outside. Got my shots pretty late, I think in early 2022, because I wanted to go to an outdoor festival with a lot of people.
I am aware of this aspect, but all four of us would have to be non-symptomatic people, which I find highly unlikely; we just mask, vax, hand-wash constantly, and avoid crowds. I was certainly knocked on my ass by each vaccination. Other circumstantial evidence that we probably haven’t had it yet is that none of us have had a cold in 3 years either, thanks to our pandemic habits and precautions. It’s been great.
Do your kids homeschool? You do guys work from home? I’ve gotten it twice, both times from my office. There are only like 10 of us in a hybrid office, but that’s still enough exposure.
Wife works from home, and I go in a 2-3 times a week to a downtown office building, so I don’t lose my cube. Kids stayed home for the first year, but returned after that. They still choose to mask up at school, even though it’s no longer required - incredibly they don’t get bullied for it.
They’re in baseball, hockey, and basketball sans masks this year though, so I brace for a covid impact whenever I see headlines about new surges. I’ve always assumed my kids would be our covid vector. I’m certainly tempting fate with these comments 😂
That was my family until this variant late summer. My kids brought it home after school started and a week later my wife and I had it.
After 4 days I was back up and moving around like nothing happened. If there’s any variant to catch, apparently this one isn’t bad at all compared to previous iterations.
Eris didn’t have any lung involvement at all and was basically like a week long sinus infection with muscle aches, chills, and fatigue.
So now I’ve got a bit of natural immunity and I’ll get my booster when I get my flu shot like I’ve been doing every year.
Alright I’m not certain there’s not a genetic variable here but I have not found it very hard to avoid. I wear a mask indoors and eat outdoors and don’t really do anything else.
But like, I travel a lot not for business which I theorize is riskier than business travel. That’s a lot of airports, and even with an optimistic 70% lounge rate it’s probably not great for avoiding illness (plus I managed to get flu somehow). I do eat indoors for special places but I guess those typically have less than 20 seats so the risk is reduced. Still.
My immediate family all got it and were extremely symptomatic so I doubt it’s genetic though. Plus I don’t think I’m related to my SO and by using an N95/KN (I prefer N for comfort on the ears) we’ve managed to avoid it despite frequent travel and separate social lives. I know masks are very uncommon now but honestly, didn’t really change my life that much. I’m pretty sure they work too, the second time I was in Tokyo this year masks were a minority thing and you couldn’t get onto a bus or train without people coughing. I resigned myself to Covid but somehow still didn’t get it.
Anyway now that I’ve gone on this incoherent ramble I’m definitely gonna be sick next week. Probably deserved.
supposedly. not at the local grocery chain, according to them. at the pharmacy chain i can get one, but my teens will only get them if they are covered by state health insurance, which they aren’t. my income from my new job stopped that instantly, but my coverage doesn’t start until november. they’re in limbo.
edit - so i’m just waiting. i guess i could get mine at least.
It really just requires people not testing. A runny nose is technically symptomatic, but I doubt most people tested every time they blew there nose more than average.
I live in a house with four other people, all of which have had it at one point or another. Usually one person gets it and wears a mask around the house so it doesn’t end up spreading to anyone else. I’ve managed to not get it despite testing every few days for a couple of weeks after it has been in the house
I live in a very small town and pretty much only leave home for groceries. In general I’m never around people. On top of taking all the precautions, it wasn’t that hard for me.
I’m pretty sure my bodies just built different at this point, like I’ve had multiple people in my family catch it, multiple people in my house at uni and I tested pretty frequently even when I wasn’t showing symptoms until they stopped giving the tests away for free, but I’ve not tested positive even once
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