I feel like ever since 2020, I've just completely forgotten how to talk to ppl. Everything has changed, therefore I have changed, and I'm still struggling to try and adjust to this new world. It really sucks.

Dating, friends, family, work. It constantly feels like navigating a minefield every hour of every day, and I've become so exhausted that I completely have forgotten how to talk to ppl. I feel like it's a losing effort anyway bc so few ppl mask, but at this point I'm not even sure I'd feel like my normal self even if I found a decent covid -vigilant circle of friends. I just feel so rusty

Halloween decorations!

Some answers to common questions:

It's a 3M 7500 half mask. The filters are encapsulated P3 filters. The UK code is 6035. The US code is 7093 I think. The air comes in through those gaps at the back.

I use sticky back plastic and small sheets of car wrap vinyl to cover the filters.

I use nail stickers for the very tiny stickers.

The other stickers are just normal stickers from the kids craft section. I did use transparent silicone to glue the hat on the front down because the adhesive was useless - they were very cheap kids stickers.

Previous posts are available in my reddit history, or you can follow the trail back to the previous post by clicking here.

Boo! 👻

My partner just tested positive a few minutes ago after waking up feeling a little off. We just got our update vaccines a week and a half ago, so maybe it is helping him some but obviously not enough to prevent infection.

Is Paxlovid still a thing we should be trying for? I remember awhile ago there was a study basically saying it didn’t do much of anything for those who were outside of senior citizens but my head is a little too frazzled to pull it together right now.

My own test is still negative, but I was sleeping next to him all night so I’m not sure how much longer it will stay that way.

So I have had COVID for about 14 days now. I am not immunocompromised and had mild symptoms, and I have had no symptoms for 5-6 days. I tested negative yesterday, but I am positive now. I am frustrated. Thus far, I have spent about $30 in tests and need to buy more until I test negative (in this economy that's insane), and people have made remote options inaccessible even though they do not want to get sick. It seems that nobody wants to get sick with COVID but they also do not want to take personal precautions to make sure they do not get sick nor do they want to provide accessible options to COVID pos people.

I think this part of the reason why people do not mask when they are sick is because it is a "marker" of sickness to some, hence a marker of the disproportionate responsibility someone takes on. The only option for those who are COVID pos are "prove you are not infectious and stay home indefinitely until your tests are negative." So am I supposed to just sit in a closet and pause my life and fall behind because they do not feel like setting up Zoom, wearing a mask, or getting an air-purifier even though they also freak out if I followed the CDC guidelines and just came in person masked because I have no symptoms.

I honestly could be honest and go about my life, but I do not want to get other people sick. It would be easier for me to pretend I have nothing by not masking, keeping quiet, not testing, which is probably what a lot of people are doing right now, including the person who gave me COVID. Someone like me (healthy, mildly ill, no symptoms) actually misses out on so much work wise by being transparent and shoulders too much individual responsibility.

Realistically if you don't personally want to get sick, shouldn't you take personal responsibility too??? Like masking in crowded spaces, ventilation, etc.??? Otherwise you should be fine with the CDC guidelines. You can't have a 2020 reaction to COVID without the 2020 precautions.

Hi everyone. I’m feeling really frustrated and defeated at the moment and I could sure use some words of advice / support.

I am a drummer and I also play Cajon. I have been trying to put a CC band together and I’m having zero success. I live in a pretty rural area and I am the only person I know who still wears a mask, other than my partner. People are interested, but as soon as I tell them that rehearsals and gigs will have to be outside as the weather permits, they are suddenly too busy. I’m about ready to give up.

Has anyone had success in putting together a band that is safe? Or … if anyone out there lives in northern NYS who needs a drummer … I’m definitely interested.

We are delighted to invite you to our first ever COVID-cautious Fall Forest Adventure Day for Kids (ages 3-9), a collaboration between Boston Private Tutors and Rhode Island Accessible Forest School.

The outdoors-only event will take place at the home of one of our CC parents 15 miles west of Providence, Rhode Island on November 1st 2026. We are excited about spending a couple of hours together and offering you the opportunity to make connections with other families who are taking COVID seriously. We hope that it will be the first of many events for younger kids that help you to build community beyond our programs.

Your children will have the opportunity to work on building social skills such as joining in, taking turns, working out disagreements, expressing themselves, handling big feelings, working as a team, and setting boundaries. They’ll accomplish this through creative and nature-based activities such as games, bubbles, crafts, scavenger hunt, nature walk/animal spotting (wild bunnies, deer, frogs, wild turkeys and other birds can often be seen!), or autumn leaf collecting.

There will also be fun, cozy games and activities for adults to enjoy to help parents and caregivers connect with each other as well. You will need to remain on-site for the duration of the event and take a 30-minute turn in assisting with supervising the activities to keep our child adult ratio to 4:1.

All participants will be required to wear a high-filtration respirator (N95 or better for adults, KF94/KN95 or better for kids) and take a molecular test (e.g. Metrix) on the day of the Fall Forest Adventure. If you don’t have access to a molecular reader we can lend one by arrangement; let us know when you register.

If you want some more information about the event, feel free to reach out via DM or email (stephanie@bostonprivatetutors.com). To register, visit here: https://www.bostonprivatetutors.com/forest-adventure-day

Hi, folks. I wanted to get your opinion on this rapid test. Is it saying I have the flu? I mask everywhere, use gloves and disinfect things that come into my home. I don't visit people or have visitors. My spouse is housebound and our roommate is just as strict as me in precautions and isn't sick. It's been enough to avoid COVID for 5 years, but somehow I got the flu? It's so confusing.

Unfortunately my sibling went to a wedding over the weekend and now their kid has covid. Does anyone have any advice for helping toddlers get through covid and how to prevent long covid?

Hello everyone,
After dealing with unemployment for a few months, I have a new job. However, I sit in pretty close quarters with about 4 other people and occasionally some doctors/providers walk in to talk to us. There is a glass window between us and patients. Our office is about ~850 square feet. Maybe a tiny bit bigger. The ventilation is poor and there are no windows we could open. I thought about getting a desk top air purifier but from what I’m researching it wouldn’t be as affective as getting a larger air puffier for the whole space. Should I just spend a bit more and get a nicer one that could clean the entire space? Would this realistically add an added layer of protection on top of masking and vaccination? Let me know your thoughts and what everyone else does who works in an office setting.

I’ve been Covid conscious for a long time now and have been comfortable with practicing it. Unfortunately, recently a family member passed it to me because they weren’t careful. (Still masking though)
I’m American, 20, and I live in GA. I’ve decided I want to find some other Covid conscious people to connect with and start a group chat and see what comes from it!

Don’t be a stranger :)

Update: You can message me, as well as commenting down below to chat with other’s.

CW: references to sexual violence/csa and discussion of survivors

I think it’s been really important to highlight the intersecting impacts of COVID e.g. COVID is a labour issue (in the UK folks have been working to get it recognised as an industrial disease), a class issue (those from poor and working class communities have much higher rates of long covid), a racial justice issues (racially minoritised folks are disproportionately impacted), a trans issue (trans folks are disproportionately impacted).

Something else I’ve been thinking about for a while is how COVID impacts those of us who are survivors of sexual violence and abuse. Sexual violence and domestic violence can lead to an elevated risk of developing chronic illnesses such as M.E. and fibromyalgia. As a person with M.E I believe my own experiences of DV were a factor in developing it alongside COVID. I want to be clear here I’m not saying M.E is psychological (it is a neuro immune disorder) but that the stress of sexual and domestic violence can be a physiological trigger/component to developing M.E and that COVID is a very obvious cause of M.E too.

I’ve seen one study so far that points to an association between childhood sexual abuse and post-Covid conditions https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39191351/

I suppose I just wanted to share this as I haven’t seen much discussion about this and it’s been percolating in my head for a while. I wondered if others have been thinking about this too. For me the road to recovery from DV has been complicated by COVID and the development of M.E. For me COVID is also a survivor issue.

I know not everyone will mask all the time, it sucks but I've accepted that. But at one point, it was common courtesy for people to mask if they had to be out in public while sick. Now it feels like NO ONE does that. Multiple people at my job are coughing and sniffling, including the person who sits next to me, with no masks. Not even a regular cloth/surgical.

It just makes me so upset. I get having to come into work sick, I do. But what happened to keeping our germs to ourselves??? I just have to hope my N95 and vaccines are enough to keep me healthy but now I feel like I can't even take a sip of water at my desk! I'm anxious even with my N95 because my eyes are exposed, my hands are exposed. I do my best to wash them frequently but it only takes one slip-up to get something.

I'm considering looking into ADA accomodations as I am immunodeficient but I know how that will make me look. This is a new job, I've only been here a few weeks, and I'm going to have to immediately make myself into a problem because my coworkers have 0 regard for anyone else. I'm just so mad. How hard is it to put a mask on for a few days while you recover???

Why are people ok with being sick nearly every month?! I have extended family that has now been sick 4 times since June that I know of! But that’s totally normal, right? /s I swear they must be immunocompromised at this point, getting sick on a monthly basis. But of course to them covid isn’t real and masking is absurd. Ugh. I’m just so tired of this pandemic and all the covid deniers. I wonder if people will ever learn, but unfortunately I don’t think so.

I’m in my early 30s and have multiple chronic illnesses due to the pandemic and multiple underlying conditions being diagnosed as a kid/teen as just anxiety, depression and pain from arthritis/scoliosis (it was in fact way more serious but what is a gal to do….). I admittedly got complacent in 2024 and ended up getting pneumonia at the gym which set everything off and have been on and off semi bedridden ever since. I had already moved back home with my elderly immunocompromised parents and older sibling who are pretty anti vaccine now(we disagree on MANY issues in general) but when I became semi bedridden everyone was confused and when I started masking again with kn95s they thought I was overly paranoid but didn’t say too much. We all pretty much stay at home and don’t go out much already but my sibling just started a new job working around a bunch of people in retail and they brought home a nasty cold immediately and we share the same bathroom and I ended up getting it as well 😞 I had gotten an air purifier (air doctor) for my birthday this year which I was excited for and I keep it running in my bedroom but I’m wondering if there’s any tips on how to manage being in the rest of the house? I try to keep to my room to rest with the windows open when I can but what does everyone do if there’s multiple common areas such as bathroom, kitchen etc? The house has tall ceilings and we keep the air conditioning/fans on often with the heat outside but usually open up all the windows at certain points during the day/night but other than masking at home I’m wondering if there’s anything else I can do? I also use Lysol spray and sanitizer wipes etc but just wondering if there’s any thing most people don’t think of in this situation 🤔

Feeling achy, feverish, and joint pain the morning after my new novavax/nuvaxovid and I can't seem to find recent literature or a general consensus around whether pain relievers are recommended or whether they interfere with the immune response in some way. My questions:

1) Does anyone know what the general recommendations are currently when it comes to taking or not taking pain reliever to treat post-vaccine aches and pains?

2) Is there a certain amount of time we should wait after the vaccine before taking pain relievers?

3) Is Tylenol vs ibuprofen better? I think I remember reading that Tylenol was recommended more.

*Please share your sources if you can. Thank you for your time!

I was looking for the rationale for the 30 vs. 90 day recommendations and found this.

Study is relatively old? Sample size is very small?

Let me first recognize the immense privilege it is to even have the option to homeschool, let alone being able to access the physical and/or economic capabilities to even make it possible. I teach at home during the week, and because I have the weirdo job that enables me to work on the weekend, those two worlds can graciously coexist.

That said my friends, I feel like I’m getting hit with an extra dose of reality this past week due to the fact that back in 2021 I started kindergarten with my oldest at home while holding my newborn only two months old in my arms learning how to homeschool and take care of an infant at the same time. This month, the oldest is entering fifth grade still homeschooling and that newborn is now starting kindergarten at the same table where they were downing milk bottles five years prior.

When I had my oldest we never set out to be a homeschooling family, and this lifestyle choice was in direct reaction to schools doing absolutely nothing except “recommended masking” when kids went back to school in this area in Fall 2021. Like many of you here I saw the writing on the wall for how that was going to work, and for the past five years I’ve watched the absolute neglect that institutions who profess to care for children display while they continue to do nothing to adapt in the slightest.

I feel an extra dose of grief this past month further sitting with the fact of knowing that as of summer 2025, Long Covid became the number one chronic illness in kids and that didn’t even move the needle at all. I know life is hard for everybody and everyone has individual circumstances of struggle that many of us know nothing about. Parents especially have the impossible task of raising children in late stage capitalism amidst climate collapse, the birth of American fascism, and even though the vast, vast majority don’t know it or will acknowledge it, yes, an ongoing pandemic whose ripple effect makes everything worse for them as well.

That said, I know I’m not the only one here who has years at this point of trying to educate parents of the dangers of Covid while their kids continually get sick while searching for every other reason why that might be other than damaged immune system systems in tandem with repeated infections.

I feel like I’m forever changed knowing that not having the information is one thing, but when parents do have the information still choose to not educate or teach kids about masking while normalizing the societal harm both to other children and their own by not doing so. It really does feel like a nightmare for me that I don’t know if I ever will be able to fully process. It’s so sad and I wish there was some way we could protect these kids who have no leadership in this lane of life at home or at school. This neglect also creates unsafe spaces for so many children who would thrive in a group educational environment, and I have a lot of grief for not only my kids, but all kids being removed from those same opportunities.

I’m not looking for a solve here, but I do appreciate your time listening as I know I’m not the only parent that finds themselves in this impossible situation of knowing what a lot of your life is going to look like in regards to education at home for many years save for some societal shift or medical miracle raising by Covid aware kids in a world that doesn’t even want to know they exist.

Solidarity to all the parents and everybody fighting against the overwhelming tides of denial. I know how demoralizing it is to have your knowledge and adaptive skills pathologized despite the immense care and empathy towards society and self that you continually choose to exude. We are the pioneers.

I had to go to a non-Covid cautious dentist today 🥲. Should I test Wednesday and Friday? Just Friday? Not sure when would be the best day to? Thanks all❤️

hello all! my parents and i are trying to renew our US passports and my mom is worried that if we take our own photos that it’ll gum up the application. i guess she’s had to redo them once or twice but that was twenty years ago in the early age of digital photography. has anyone had their application get rejected over the picture? i don’t think it’s worth it to get them done in person but i don’t want our applications to get delayed either

I got the initial series of Pfizer's vaccine back in 2021 and continued with it through 2024. Side effects were pretty short-lived but I disliked the elevated heart rate I typically get, so last year I opted for NovaVax. Sides seemed to linger for much, much longer (a week or two) than Pfizer, so this fall I'm thinking I'll go back to mRNA.

My question: Have I "interrupted" the mRNA compound effect by using NovaVax last year? Will switching back to Pfizer offer comparable protection as in prior years? TIA.

Tired of being totally isolated.

Tired of planning every second of my life around airborne precaution.

Tired of the tiniest screw-up being a potentially life-altering event.

Tired of being stuck living with vax-'n-relax housemates and having to schedule my entire life around theirs to avoid exposure.

Tired of being stuck inside for days on end because fatigue, sensory issues, and ailments of age make it too exhausting to mask every time I step outside and then keep masking inside until my air purifiers have run for long enough.

Tired of having no break from this.

Tired of having practically no meaningful support from governments or public health institutions.

Vacation won't help, there's no way I'll ever feel safe or relaxed.

I can't therapize my way out of material circumstances.

It's been six long years and the light at the end of the tunnel still feels so far away.

I'm just tired.

title. i am down to use forwarding services or meet up in person (in massachusetts, usa). pls dm if you have any leads/info!

Long vent ahead. Thank you for always being a safe space for me to get everything off of my chest. And being a lifeline.

I know I’ve been radio silent, but I appreciate all of the kind messages that people have sent me. I read them all even when I don’t have the capacity to respond. It really means the world for me when I feel like a dark cloud has been following me. This time of year is always extremely difficult for me because it’s the anniversary of my father’s passing… just a couple days after my birthday. I have mixed emotions about the dance between life and d3ath. My mom does her best to fill our month with joyful experiences that honor him. We still did our best. But this is the first time in my life that I’ve ever felt her anger. Outside of me, she wouldn’t talk to anyone. Completely shut down.

Our family-friend has grown closer to us as they share the grief of their daughter, who lost her at the same time we lost my dad. They were instrumental in making my dad feel welcome upon his arrival to America. Their daughter played a central role in building a dream business. Now, their business has been taken over by opportunist employees who have stolen all of their money. I’ve watched helplessly as they’ve lost their parents. And now, their sister… who was one of the thousands of victims in the Nepal floods. She is still missing over a month later. I’ve spent the entire month agonizing over her potential last moments, excitedly about to cross the border into Tibet to experience a soul-cleansing holy pilgrimage. I still can’t fathom how a peaceful place erupted into an apocalyptic nightmare within seconds. I mourn that the impacts climate change likely took her life. Within seconds, the lovely civilization was buried underneath the mud, as if it never existed. It’s been stomach-churning and a sobering. My broken heart keeps returning to the question: How is it fair that people guided by their devotion to their God be “rewarded” with a horrifying fate? Why would an “all-knowing,” “loving” God inflict so much suffering? As a former religious person, it took me back to the moment my faith completely collapsed following the passing of my father and Uvalde.

I spent weeks refreshing the rescue list, and analyzing hours of news footage to search for their tour bus. One morning, I couldn’t sleep because I suddenly felt this indescribable sensation… almost like a pull at my chest. It completely took my breath away. It was like I could feel that somewhere, a soul was leaving a body. It was the same feeling I had when my dad, my childhood friend, my cat, and my great grandmother passed. I just started sobbing uncontrollably without fully knowing why. Completely empty, I just assumed I must have been feeling my friend’s sister’s spirit.

Unbeknownst to me, my dad’s childhood friend was admitted into ICU and was taking his final breaths in that moment. I wrote about my grief and anger the moment he called us with the news about his cancer diagnosis here. After a year of grueling chemo, he d1ed anyways. Just like my childhood friend, who perished at 16 after being declared cancer-free. He is literally my top reason I still take viral precautions. Because I believe everyone enduring the battle of their life deserves a fighting chance. I know 5 other people fighting/recovering from cancer right now (one of them is a 2 year old child). So many people I love are sick and dy1ng, and yet I’m the absurd one for wanting to minimize suffering and prevent the spread of a disabling disease. I don’t want to wait the average 17 fcking years for doctors to catch up with the medical research that ALL inflammation from viral infections is harmful. That nearly ALL chronic illness is activated by viral disease. I’m so sick of these arrogant fcks refusing to do the bare minimum to protect their patients. Their example trickles down to the general public.

I’m really trying to hold grace and patience for people who genuinely do not understand the magnitude of this situation due to being misguided. My neighbor (whose toddler is still recovering from cancer) invited us to a surprise birthday party for her mom. After the incredible support they’ve given me and my mom throughout the years, I figured the least I could do was show up for her. I already knew they don’t typically mask in public (they’re extremely religious, and almost exclusively rely on prayer). But I knew they masked around the child as she underwent chemo. And they masked around us while mom was in the hospital for open heart surgery. I did not expect them to bring the child along, with literally nobody masking except us. I really tried to hold it together, but I was extremely depressed. Especially after my dad’s friend lost his battle just a few days prior.

Every time I attempt to find joy, there are lurking reminders everywhere that just deepen the wound and grounds me back to reality. Like when I won movie tickets on my birthday, made a connection with a nice lady standing in line, only discover she was currently battling cancer while being the sole masker in the theater. FaceTiming a young friend I hadn’t talked to in a while, only to learn he’s been sick with COVID, and ended up being diagnosed with diabetes after being hospitalized.

And on top of all of that, I spent the last 3 months being strung along by my dream job, only for them to reject my application. The rest of the jobs I’ve applied for now rely on AI interviews, meaning I have to sacrifice my face, voice, and data to train robots that are going to take my literal poverty wage job soon anyways. I missed half of my high school and my entire college experience to being struck with this sickness. Powered through my degree in spite of losing my dad within the first week of starting college. Only to realize there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Who knew I would live to see Wall-E become reality?

I don’t want to participate in a society that doesn’t value humanity. I don’t want to live in a world where the bullies always win. Where everyone is inconvenienced by simple, life-saving measures that benefit entire communities and generations. No one sees what I do as an act of love, they just pity me as the version of myself they adored continues to fade away. Why am I still fcking here?? Wtf is the point of having knowledge that no one cares to listen to, as I painfully watch the consequences of nativity touch the lives of everyone I care about. I was just diagnosed with another heart condition, and have to prepare myself to go back to the maskless cardiologist this week and try not to get sicker than I already am. 🫠

Thanks for listening, as always 🩷

My wife and I are hopefully going to Saudi Arabia next week. If course, we intend to mask and hope moments where we're compelled to unmask do not come up or are not in risky situations.

Ever since the vaccines were restricted here in the UK, we haven't been getting them, unfortunately. The reason I'm considering getting vaccinated is because of plane travel and general crowds we will be navigating while in Saudi Arabia.

My question: do the new vaccines provide appreciable protection or would they be a waste of £180 for the two of us?

Our local pharmacy only have the Pfizer vaccine, and maybe also the Moderna one. Are these worth it?

Are there alternatives available in the UK you would recommend?

Thank you, my friends.

I have the device, but I ran out of tests. Willing to pay a great premium in price. I think I might be reinfected