More cactus blooms in our yard. Isn’t that amazing for July in Arizona?
I wash my hands a lot. Every time I go outside and come back into the house, I wash my hands. I realized that my constant handwashing was a habit I picked up during COVID. I get up from typing on my laptop or using my phone and wash my hands some more.
I remembered other things that changed from the COVID shutdown days when we didn’t know much about how the virus was being spread that stick with me today.
Washing hands is number one.
Number two is I don’t like being in crowds like going to big sporting events or the movies.
Three is I’m not as social as I was before.
I worry about travel on airplanes. I’ve gotten sick from COVID after travel twice.
I was very confused about masks. In CA, masks and vaccination cards were required to go in public spaces like restaurants. After we moved to AZ, you rarely saw anyone in masks and no vaccination cards were required — even through we got vaccinated in huge stadiums in AZ with thousands of others driving through the parking lots of the State Farm Stadium where the Cardinals play and the AZ state fairgrounds. After visiting our kids in Berkeley, I’d be back home and realize I was the only one wearing a mask at the grocery store.
I had a close friend in Palm Springs whose daughter was working for a grocery delivery app. They’d have her strip at the backdoor after work and put her clothes in the washing machine, shower and then enter the rest of the house. They also took their groceries out of their car and wiped them down with alcohol wipes before bringing things into the house.
I have friends who traveled to visit family in Michigan and Ontario Canada this week who got COVID. They are holed up in a hotel recovering, but are not very sick.
Last summer, during our beach trip to Santa Barbara, we had several friends cancel getting together with us because they all got COVID. It was eerie. We ended up leaving early because of it. We checked websites and local news and COVID was breaking out everywhere in that area. We decided to go back home to our wildlife of Arizona.
I did lose my mother to COVID on January 1, 2023, so I so know COVID is a real threat to our health. I have to say, I was more worried about cancer after my daughter-in-law’s diagnosis of stage 3C colon cancer during last summer’s vacation. That was way more on our minds than our friends in Santa Barbara getting COVID. Thankfully, everyone, including our DIL and Santa Barbara friends are doing well!
Has COVID from 2020 to today changed any of your actions or behaviors? If so, what has changed?
Don’t listen to doom spreaders. Use common sense.
I agree. There was such a contrast between COVID approaches from CA to AZ, it was interesting.
I knew people in other places with barely any restrictions
I never touch public railings, door handles, etc…use the bottom of my shirt or scarf, or use my elbow when possible to open doors.
Wash my hands after shaking hands with others. Wash my hands much more than I used to.
I probably will never go to a huge venue again…concerts, sports events or any event packed with people. However, that’s probably more due to the probability of violence. So I choose recreation more carefully than in the past.
I have always isolated when sick, and stayed home from work when I had symptoms so I wouldn’t spread my illness…while others would come to work with any symptoms you could think of…and were praised for not missing work. Now, it is more acceptable and even company enforced, that sick people take sick days when necessary.
I am with you about washing hands and avoiding crowds. I think it is so good to stay home from work when you’re sick. I’m glad it’s more acceptable now to take sick days.
I never was fond of crowds so Covid was a good excuse to stay away! My only real holdover is that I still carry hand sanitizer in my car and usually use it after grocery shopping. Working in healthcare at the height of covid there were so many practices that became habits- being retired for 2 years has allowed me to let go of most of those. It was funny though- I was cleaning out a storage area this weekend and realized I still have a huge supply of masks and even found a few tucked in a pocket in my car. I kept them…you never know 🙂
I have masks tucked away in the glove compartment too. You never know. I can’t imagine what you had to go through working in healthcare during COVID. I’ve heard there is another outbreak where my kids live, but we’re fine here.
I think we just learn to live with it, just like we have with other illness like the flu…at least until the next new, deadly virus appears. I’ve sort of taken up the stance that there are always disasters of some sort waiting around the corner but I don’t want to live my life waiting and watching for them at every turn.
You have a good attitude. Yes, disasters are around every corner, but we need to live our lives.
Hand washing and using hand-sanitizer is one major thing. I do go to movies and weddings etc but people in general are not entertaining as much as before.
I agree that people are not entertaining as much as before. I went to two weddings that had people from around the world and we learned people had COVID. Fortunately, we didn’t get it.
Here the status of Covid has been reduced to ordinary flu. Many get it and get better in a few days. They don’t even bother getting it tested.
That’s good!
Perhaps. Even with the new variants, the standardized tests are mostly negative.
My son said the tests haven’t kept up with the new variants.
No they haven’t, at least not the ones available here.
100000000%….handwashing…all the time…and I’ve made an effort to avoid touching my face, eyes and like ‘blmaluso’ said earlier, I try not to touch surfaces like doorknobs, handles, railings in public places. And I think you’re right about something I hadn’t considered. I’m a lot choosier about the large events we attend. I hadn’t thought about that from a Covid-reaction point of view, but I think you nailed it. Yup. 🥰
The handwashing never ends! My poor hands are raw!
I started using Aquaphor on my hands – at night. It’s a little greasy, but it sinks in. 🤪
I have Aquaphor. I will give it a try!
Just don’t try to open a jar right after applying…LOL! 😁
Good suggestion 😅
I was always had a thing about washing my hands, now I am crazy about it. I carry sanitizer but did before Covid (it doesn’t get credit). I never been asked for proof of vaccination – the card is on my phone. Crowds – now I stay on the outside, at movies I pick seats away from everyone, in the grocery store I avoid aisle with people. I fear I maybe an asymptomatic carrier or I am just lucky. Last year we cruised, the wife got it bad (we were vaccinated 4 times at that point), I was fine.
I do the same thing at events. I sit far away from other people. I can’t stand going to the grocery store and hearing people cough and sniffle! I’m sorry your wife got sick, but it’s good you didn’t.
My wife didn’t choose to avoid crowds, while I did. She got sick as a dog. She was in bed for 3 days.
That’s what makes the difference. The last time I got COVID was flying home from Seattle after spreading my mom’s ashes. The worst part of it was taking Paxlovid. It made me sicker than COVID.
This is such a good perspective looking back four-years-later. I definitely wash my hands a lot more post-Covid. So glad that your DIL is doing well!!
Thank you! I’m going to try Vicki’s Aquaphor solution for my dry, raw hands.
For four years, I was very lucky not to get it. I’m just getting over it, and man, it was no joke. I can’t imagine what we would have done if we were sick during my dad’s cancer treatment.
How awful that would have been! I’m glad you’re feeling better.
I wash my hands more and am wary of crowds, but I’m not too obsessed. I support everyone making their own decisions… up to the point where their carelessness and disregard impacts me. I hated how a public health issue became so political.
I’m with you on the politics. Yes, I try not to be too obsessed but wash my hands constantly!
Sorry about your mother EA, but glad your DIL and others are doing well. Yes, I think Covid has made me less social. I see a crowd and I walk the other way. Yikes. 🙂 🙂
Thank you, Brian. It was sad to lose mom to COVID. She was in assisted living five miles from the first outbreak in a WA nursing home. I was really sad to not be able to visit her for two years because of COVID. But because of her slight dementia, she knew nothing about it. She only watched Golden Girls.
I probably wash my hands more, but since it has become more like flu, I just don’t get so freaked out about it. I have not had it (that I know of). I don’t spend much time in crowds, but that was never something I did much before COVID.
I gave up my crowd days decades ago. I also know I wash my hands way more. Or maybe my dry skin is just getting older?
I used to love people and now not so much. It’s not even about the crowds as much as losing respect for those who ignored, mocked and denied. I do avoid crowds as much as possible, still wear a KN95 occasionally and definitely mask up when I’m in an airport/flying. A huge number of friends have brought back COVID from trips and although it’s not what it used to be, it can still be miserable, plus I know several people whose lives have been ruined by long COVID. One of the major things I learned from isolating during the early days was that I can do it; I became much more comfortable being alone and finding small activities to keep me busy. I went on many lengthy walks and read a lot. I watched every season of every Great *insert country* Baking Show I could find.
Yes, walking became one of my main activities, too. Also, I do like being alone. I was really busy writing for magazines when we first shut down. That kept my mind occupied.
I’m completely changed. I do almost no socializing, haven’t flown anywhere since before March 2020, and eat at home instead of in restaurants. I feel like Covid transformed me into the person I need to be to age gracefully. It was a stressful uncertain time, but I learned a lot about who I am.
That’s very interesting. You got a chance to be who you want to be.
Hello from the UK
Thank you for your post. I now avoid vaccines and big pharma products like the plague having undergone immunotherapy in 2020 until I realised that my facial palsy which I still have was caused by sodium nitrite (E250) in bacon I ate.
I now understand as I should have fully understood before 2020 that big pharma needs sick people to keep its business model going and why, among other things, in the USA for example the general health is so poor.