Yeah, I think I’ve had it twice now - once in early 2020 and once early this year. It was unpleasant, but nothing really more than a bad cold for me. Certainly not worth changing my life to avoid.
Yeah I was a little worried about getting it as I have some risk factors, but it wasn't that bad in the end. Definitely happy I've been going out and doing stuff and not bunkering down.
While I like your vaccination status and attempt to return to life, I have to disagree with your conclusion. Even if you are young and have no underlying conditions, you now have a significantly greater chance of heart attack and stroke. I personally call a 52% increase in stroke risk and 72% increase in heart attack risk "major", but that is my opinion on what is a major vs minor health problem. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00403-0
I personally don't view 0.04% and 0.12% of the population having those conditions something worth changing my life over but I guess if someone else does that's their business. I suspect people take far larger risks every day without thinking about it.
That is just the added percent in the first year after one Covid case. Who knows if that is temporary or permanent, of if it is a one-time increase or additive per case. If it is permanent or additive, then 0.4% repeatedly eventually becomes a large number.
Sure, we will have lots of unknowns around this disease for the rest of our lives. Sorry also I edited my post - the stroke increase was 0.04%, not 0.4% so I overstated the risk tenfold. I do not consider that a meaningful increase in risk and it's probably a lot smaller than plenty of other behaviors you and I both engage in without thinking.
In my opinion this is an endemic disease that we will all contract multiple times in our lives if we live life in anything approaching a normal way and the sooner people internalize this fact the happier they will be. In my experience the effects of the disease once vaccinated are mild and so I see no reason to stop living a normal life.
You did completely gloss over my point. I'll restate it more forcefully: we do not need to stop living a normal life to avoid Covid.
1) Your own post described how you no longer live life as you used to. It essentially said you've found happiness and fulfillment in other ways (which is great!) but you are very purposefully not living life how you would if COVID did not exist.
Avoiding mugging is not possible for most people, so why bother taking any precautions at all?
I did take precautions - I got vaccinated three times! If a fourth shot is made available to me I'll take that too. Hell, I would get a booster every 6 months if it were up to me.
I hope you realize that you did a major goal-post change there. Living life slightly differently is a far cry from your original comment of "never participate in these activities ever again".
Why not? I certainly can (and have) walk into an indoors restaurant, have a great time with friends, and stay fully masked and fully safe. The key to masks is that you don't want to breathe in while unmasked. So, it may feel silly, but you certainly can hold your breath, pull away the mask, consume food/drink, and put the mask back on, squeeze out excess air, then breathe. Doing that in a bar is much harder since you might get drunk and forget. So, I have chosen not to go to busy indoor bars. Instead, I drink outside with friends/family. I'm still participating in the bar activity, but now in a more enjoyable way.
I responded directly to your statement of not having to stop living a normal life.
I hope you recognize a certain tension between ‘I can live a normal life’ and ‘I hold my breath while eating.’
Oh there is tension. But, the whole discussion is based on your "never participate in these activities ever again" comment. For some reason you won't admit it, but you certainly can participate in those activities safely if you wish. It just might have to be when Covid levels are low or with some minor changes or with some tension.
I’m sorry but I do not think the average person is going to eat dinner in the way you describe and I’ve never seen someone do that. Frankly the idea of holding your breath and doing that mask dance for each bite sounds absurd to me.
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