Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

Went up north this weekend to Anacortes. Took my 82 year-old dad with COPD out to lunch at a tavern. Tables were pre-COVID distanced (5' or less of a spread), and filled up quickly. People were masked coming in, but removed them on sitting. I was expecting the tables to be spread out or signed "don't sit" on every other one. We're both past second shots, but still, pretty much confirmed my aversion to unfamiliar restaurant sit-downs for a long while.

Leaving town, stopped at grocery store. Watched the 4' and change female cashier ask an incoming guy my 6'3" height and 50 lbs heavier to put on a mask, only to get glared at. He then walked farther into the store, and she had to close her lane to follow him. Kind of hard not to say something, but when someone's obviously itching for confrontation, I'm not scratching.

Working on seeing the half-full glass and all the people looking out for each other here, versus the negative encounters.

Having trouble with that one myself. It increasingly feels like a whole lot of borderline maniacs have spent the last year (or last five years, even) assiduously chipping away at whatever borderline once existed for them.

when you think about such catastrophic situations in advance, you always think "well if shit truly hits the fan, we'll all eat each other, and it'll be over quick", but they don't tell you it's really just going to be like being randomly stabbed once a month and not dying and just perpetually being in writing pain while everybody doing the stabbing tries to explain why it's good for you

SF update: eligible population now at 75% with at least one shot and 56% with a completed regimen. Those percentages will soon adjust slightly downward since 12-15 year olds not yet counted as eligible. But in a good big picture sign -- taking the actual listed population as a whole down the line, we're now at just under two-thirds of people with at least one shot and a full 50% with a completed regimen -- from this point on, fully vaxxed people will be the majority of the city population.

Will also add that this all actually something of an undercount, as the VA, pharmacies and the OneMedical locations have not reported numbers. Based on the lines I've seen for vaccines at my local Walgreens, these numbers are likely pretty solid too.

Eating meals with friends at restaurants -- I keep wanting this to feel excited about this but it just seems kind of normal

*wanting to feel excited about this

ftr I've eaten twice indoors at half-crowded restaurants. "You feel good? Does this feel good?" my friend and I kept saying to each other. Saying goodbye after the second time, we said, "I feel good. This feels really good."

I wish I could experience it as a big deal! That's what I want!

I'm of two minds about eating indoors. I would love to have things back to normal and enjoy a meal out. On the other hand, I anticipate fretting about it so much that I wouldn't enjoy the experience yet.

i was like that the first few times, but once we found a place or two that did a good job of minimizing tables, enforced masks, and had good ventilation, I felt less bad the next few times.

^^ that's what we did. No way am I sitting elbow to elbow at a bar, but I've found lunch a far more pleasant experience.

I ate my first indoor meal recently and realized I didn't enjoy it very much. Part of this was probably the place (a kid-friendly restaurant called Bareburger), part of it was the fact that I suddenly found it very irritating to have music playing while I was eating, part of it was that being in a booth suddenly felt awkward and cramped, and part of it was the COVID protocol ordering system which involved scanning a QR code and trying to read a tiny menu on your phone/pay through a glitchy website.

But I think maybe restaurants are something I just never actually liked as much as I thought I did, especially indoor dining.

Also suddenly having to worry again about my 6-yo's extremely loud voice bothering people, when normally it only blows out my own ears during dinner.

I like places w/ Touchtunes cos then I can play like Deicide at Chuck E Cheese

Yesterday I ate at the family cafe around the corner I used to visit every day. Cried a little bit. Otherwise going back to eating at restaurants has been eh, it's still kinda annoying. When I know servers are comfortable around customers without masks (this fall? in SF at lesat?) then maybe it'll be better.

Our first time "out" eating at a restaurant (tented patio with heaters), we kinda didn't feel like we knew how to do it. It sounds goofy but I'm quite serious. Just the rhythm of sitting at a table and ordering and waiting and such.

Also the PORTIONS WERE SO HUGE

Like, I'm looking at a sandwich and fries and a beer, thinking, "how many meals is this?"

Yeah I predict my COVID weight loss will rapidly evaporate as I go back to eating out more

I guess "evaporate" is the wrong word there

I don't know how some of y'all managed to lose weight during the pandemic but then I also don't understand how some of y'all managed to get through the pandemic without drinking beers most days so I guess there's a partial explanation tucked inside my bafflement.

I haven't had a beer in a year; one thing I learned about the pandemic is that I don't actually like drinking beer unless I'm out with people. (Wine I have drunk.)

mostly additional exercise and being merciless about confining drink to after 5 p.m. on weekdays

Compared to prior years, I have both imbibed alcohol and exercised way more during this, our Plague Year+. Guess which one of those activities is getting the upper hand on my physique. Just guess.

one of my early good moves during lockdown was to switch to N/A beer and hop water for drinking at home. i could see things were going to get out of hand otherwise. going to get back on the sauce soon though.

Old Lunch: I lost a lot of weight because I found that my appetite simply diminished.

Not going anywhere or doing anything? The same ten or twelve meals in rotation? I just plain didn't want to eat a lot. Still don't, in fact.

Restaurant portions horrify me now. I get delivery of what used to be a normal dinner and all I can see is a week's worth of leftovers.

That said, I am pretty sure I drank more alcohol than was healthy. Boredom, claustrophobia, depression, and the whole not-going-anywhere thing contributed. Definitely ramping down as I reemerge from the cocoon.

As the weather improves and I can get out more and get more exercise, I expect I will need more fuel.

Before covid I played in a weekly game of ultimate (frisbee). We're discussing starting the game back up in early June and the debates over the terms of return on our email list (vaccine, masks on field/sidelines, number of players, etc.) are a little frustrating. I would prefer not to wear a mask (provided everyone is vaccinated) but I am not arguing for that and will yield to those who want everyone masked. I guess I just selfishly wish things were back to normal already.

Drank the same, exercised more, maaaaaaybe ate less? Wound up perhaps a couple of pounds (like, two or three) heavier, but I think that's from the exercise.

Tonight is the soft opening of a friend's restaurant, which will be the first time many of our friends will be dining together (in whatever configuration it ends up) since March 7, 2020.

"draccination"
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-57049639

*on immunity klaxon*

Lost weight at the beginning of the pandemic when I was too scared to get takeout and was just roasting vegetables every night. I have since gained it back plus an extra five pounds or so, because I'm burned out on cooking the same meals all the time and I'm surrounded by takeout options.

this is praxis

Two weeks from tonight on May 26th, we will announce a winner of a separate drawing for adults who have received at least their first dose of the vaccine. This announcement will occur each Wednesday for five weeks, and the winner each Wednesday will receive one million dollars.

— Governor Mike DeWine (@GovMikeDeWine) May 12, 2021

Also, no purchase necessary! Those tickets are free.

Hi I would like one million dollars, how do I become a resident

DeWine is awful but on COVID he has in general not been bad, is my impression

They should have another lottery where several thousand of those not vaccinated catch covid.

Charlton Heston is dead, so stop pitching plots for movies he could be in

this is praxis

I cant stop watching this. pic.twitter.com/XxUVHUD2qs

— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) May 13, 2021

"I'm getting a very good feeling . . . about vaccination." *throws up watching de Blasio eat*

boom

CDC Dir Rochelle Walensky: “Anyone who is fully vaccinated can participate in indoor and outdoor activities large or small without wearing a mask or social distancing. If you are fully vaccinated, you can start doing the things that you have stopped doing bc of the pandemic.”

— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) May 13, 2021

wow.

I haven't shared this news here, but a few weeks ago I had coffee on campus with a longtime friend and an epidemiologist who's a member of South Florida's most visible expert on infectious disease. He told us off the record that the vaccines are a "modern miracle" and "we're not allowed to tell you you can go to ballgames, eat indoors, and do whatever you did before 2020" because of governors like DeSantis who want to kill everyone."

free fries for getting vaccinated??? there's also a burger element????? i should've waited j/k

Alfred that’s awesome but he’s a “member” of “an expert”?

he's part of this person's team: https://medicine.fiu.edu/about/faculty-and-staff/profiles/translational-medicine/amarty.html

Damn that's a reversal. I didn't expect that to come quite so swiftly, figured at least it would be outdoors first and ramp up to some indoor spaces.

Whyyyyy does that feel like the kind of overly-broad statement that will soon be followed by a qualifier-filled walkback that will once again make a whole lot of people wary of CDC guidance?

I mean, I want to believe (to the extent that believing doesn't entail rushing back to our stupid office as quickly as my stupid company wants us to) but still.

Yeah, I fear a lot of "welp, get your asses back into the office next week, no more excuses" type emails flying out tomorrow.

the CDC got zinged for being too conservative about outdoor activity

I'd hate to think the head of the CDC would freelance on such a critically important public health policy. If there's a walk back on it, it would be because the public response to it is unexpectedly negative and they feel they need to regroup, not because the CDC director is a loose cannon who makes up policy on the fly.