And I am telling you I'm not going...

It's been a long time since my last post about the pandemic. Almost a year, in fact. And since that time, I have been finding ways to keep myself busy doing the things that I can still do while social distancing. While not obsessing over productivity, I've been getting a lot done. It's been nice to have a distraction from the chaos of the world.

But on the occasions where I do engage with the rest of the world, I keep encountering people who are acting like the pandemic is over. They have brilliant plans like reopening offices and making their employees go back to working in them, or having events indoors with indoor dining. So this message is for them:

 

I'm not going. Nothing is compelling enough to risk getting COVID. There is no meal, sale, networking event, office party, reunion, wedding, book signing, craft fair, art show, trade show, comedy show, movie, play, concert, flight, or cruise that I feel is worth taking chances on at this point. I've put my life on hold before, so maybe I'm used to not getting to do everything I want when I want to do it. The difference is that now I'm being a lot more intentional about it, as opposed to waiting for a day that will never come. I don't see the point of spending time in enclosed spaces with a lot of strangers even with HEPA filters because I don't know how effectively they are filtering out viruses, or if they people are being dishonest about their vaccination or infection status, whether they will wear their masks correctly, or at all. Not to mention the new variants that keep appearing. Delta became prevalent in the US up a few weeks after my second vaccine kicked in and the discovery of Omicron was announced the day after I got my booster shot! It's no surprise that I still don't feel safe.

If you believe that we need to learn how to live with the virus, please don't include me in that "we." There certain risks that I'm just not willing to take right now. Death isn't the only negative outcome that concerns me. I'm worried about getting long COVID and ruining my life. I am in no hurry to get back to "normal." Besides, "normal" wasn't good enough anyway.