Are any of these okay right now - Exposure risk?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We’ve been hermits since March and I’m due for some relief. I’m strongly considering at least one, if not all of the following activities. But I am still worried about the Covid risk. What are your thoughts:

-Pedicure
-Hair salon (I need this so badly)
-Hot stone massage
-House cleaners
-Dinner out with girlfriends
-Overnight getaway for 2 nights (fly or drive?)

I have done everything but the massage.

I wear a mask and get on with my life.

So you are low risk or young? B/c living this way eventually you WILL catch COVID.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, I wouldn’t do any of those things. Because I’m not a selfish idiot.

Jesus you people are the reason we can’t get a handle on this thing.

Gold star for you, then! Bravo!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone personally know of anyone that got Covid from any of these specific activities?

I know someone whose friend got COVID at a gym. We have another friend who we are pretty sure got it getting a pedicure.

My state isn't doing contact tracing so we don't know for sure.

I know people who have driven to fairly remote locations to get away for a couple of days, for hiking trips. They've stayed in Airbnbs, gotten takeout, came back healthy. I feel like if you need a break, that seems reasonably safe.

I've been getting bang trims/dry cuts - they take around 15 minutes - at the salon, instead of a full cut. I'm super super super careful generally, and I feel ok with this. It's for a short time, it's masked.

I am getting plenty of takeout. Zero eating inside restaurants. Haven't eaten outside of a restaurant yet. I would consider it if there were no one else around. But I don't feel ready for that yet. We've had friends in the yard for dinner, but not a lot. I just don't want that to be the thing that gets us sick. Too much at stake.

This is part of why this haphazard, a la carte approach to the pandemic response is so hard, though. We are getting all these conflicting messages about what's safe, what's not, and it's left some of us adopting overly risky behavior, some of us - like me - basically living like a hermit still because I don't feel like I have a great gauge of risk, and all of us just out there trying to be public health experts without having the background to do it.

You are not living like a hermit if you’re getting haircuts and hosting dinners

I get that you are being more careful than some, but you’re in no way living like a hermit.

[Anonymous]

The only things I would consider on the list are housecleaners and getaway.

For me,
Housecleaners would have to be masked and use my vacuum, and I would want to be out of the house the entire time and then some. I have a 3 year old and also don’t trust my cleaners to do what I ask.

Getaway - I did this with my family. We drove in one day (no stay at hotel or Airbnb), took our own bathroom so we didn’t have to use reststops, and we were also socially distance at our destination, which means it was the same lifestyle we had at home (grocery pick up only, curbside pickups for takeout), just in a different location. The house we stayed in was a family cabin that had been disinfected and nobody had been in for several days before our arrival.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We’ve been hermits since March and I’m due for some relief. I’m strongly considering at least one, if not all of the following activities. But I am still worried about the Covid risk. What are your thoughts:

-Pedicure
-Hair salon (I need this so badly)
-Hot stone massage
-House cleaners
-Dinner out with girlfriends
-Overnight getaway for 2 nights (fly or drive?)

Wow, we are by FAR more conservative than anyone we know and we have done so much more than most people on this thread. For me:

1. No pedi or massage. The pedi I can figure out, more or less, on my own. The massage I would LOVE but don't need and would honestly be so anxious the whole time it would ruin it. That's also a lot of intense, close exposure.
2. Just got my hair done for the first time since February. It was halfway down my back and was truly bothering me. Two stylists in a 1700 foot space, everyone masked.
3. Cleaners have been back since the summer. I leave a bag for them with masks, gloves, and shoe covers and we hide in our office while they are here, which they don't have to clean.
4. Haven't had a meal with girlfriends but have done spaced out patio cocktails once a week or so for most of the summer. Not enough human interaction is definitely wearing on my ability to cope.
5. We did an air bnb at the beach for a week in July. Made sure we had one with a private pool, so we literally just went to the beach or the pool. That's it. Honestly kind of a terrible trip but my ES aged kids had fun, which was the point. I did germ fog the house once we got there before we went inside.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't get a massage because the treatments rooms are typically so small. I've done or would do everything else.

It seems like you're not high-risk and don't live with a high-risk person. Just be careful the couple weeks after your activities for the sake of others. I wouldn't do more than one thing every 10 days or so -- you know, don't get your nails done and get a haircut 5 days later, just in case.

[Anonymous]

We're back to entertaining other couples and families in our house, without masks. We've given this thing more than enough time. Now we're getting on with living our lives.

I'm going to the gym five days a week because I want to be healthy for if/when I get it.

I would do any of the things you mentioned without hesitation.

The goal was two weeks to flatten the curve so that we don't overwhelm the medical system. Mission accomplished, congratulations everyone. Now it's on with life.

Everyone else is free to make their own risk calculations. We have had some older friends turn down invitations to spend time with us on our boat, and that's perfectly fine and we don't fault them one bit.

[Anonymous]

I would book a house ASAP-- it will do wonders for you. Bring some wipes/cleaning supplies to wipe down high contact areas and open an window. You can also see if there is a day or 2 between your arrival and the last person.

We are pretty conservative, but we have done 2 trips to houses, where we were able to socially distance. We bought groceries and we did take out. Do some research on some vacation towns near you that you can drive that are good about masks. Or ask on the travel forum. We have been getting our hair cut outdoors by my stylists and we all we wear masks (she included).

No dinners outside, but we have been doing patio/fire pit drinks since the late Spring, socially distanced. Maybe pick 1 friend and have dinner/drinks outside?

I would love to get a massage or pedicure, but I cannot justify it as it is not completely necessary.

[Anonymous]

It's all about individual priorities. We went on a 15 day driving trip to see loved ones - to see them outdoors. I don't get pedicures, ever. I cut my own hair. Hot stone massage, house cleaners - not something I spend money on. I see friends everyday, everyday since March. Just do it different. Love restaurants, miss those.

[Anonymous]

I’ve done all these things and more and haven’t gotten Covid yet. I also have not been visiting elderly friends and family or friends with co morbidity that could make them
Vulnerable. I wear masks when required.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of that is fine. Flying is safer than driving, unless it’s a day trip.

Flying in the age of Covid is NOT safer than driving.

I’m sure it still is if you’re under 60 and in good health. Multiply risk of getting covid on plane times risk of dying of covid if you get it...risk of dying of covid you got on the plane is probably 1 in 5 million.

By that math, what do you think the risk of dying from COVID caught in your own car is?

Also, do you ascribe no value to the risk of long term heart or lung issues? The potential you lose your senses or have chronic headaches? Time off work? Spreading it to everyone in your immediate family? Chance your young kid has a mild case but silently suffers heart damage (it happens, even to kids)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're back to entertaining other couples and families in our house, without masks. We've given this thing more than enough time. Now we're getting on with living our lives.

I'm going to the gym five days a week because I want to be healthy for if/when I get it.

I would do any of the things you mentioned without hesitation.

The goal was two weeks to flatten the curve so that we don't overwhelm the medical system. Mission accomplished, congratulations everyone. Now it's on with life.

Everyone else is free to make their own risk calculations. We have had some older friends turn down invitations to spend time with us on our boat, and that's perfectly fine and we don't fault them one bit.

Not if/when, just when.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone personally know of anyone that got Covid from any of these specific activities?

Yes.

I know two people who got Covid from haircuts. One in March and one in June. I also know someone who got it in the course of traveling. And I know someone who got it from eating indoors at a restaurant.

If contact tracing is crappy to non-existent, especially back in March, how do they know this?

Yes, how did these patients trace the exposure?

it makes for a more interesting story to scare their friends with.

Because the hairdressers contacted both of them.

She got a haircut and four or five days later the hairdresser called her and told her that a client whose hair he had cut the day before she came in had tested positive for covid so the hairdresser got tested and he was positive too. That was the case in March.

The second case the hairdresser called as well and the client got tested and was positive too.

Has they been masked?

My doctor has a patient who got COVID from a haircut over the summer - both masked. She uses it as an example to show that masks help but are not a magic bullet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're back to entertaining other couples and families in our house, without masks. We've given this thing more than enough time. Now we're getting on with living our lives.

I'm going to the gym five days a week because I want to be healthy for if/when I get it.

I would do any of the things you mentioned without hesitation.

The goal was two weeks to flatten the curve so that we don't overwhelm the medical system. Mission accomplished, congratulations everyone. Now it's on with life.

Everyone else is free to make their own risk calculations. We have had some older friends turn down invitations to spend time with us on our boat, and that's perfectly fine and we don't fault them one bit.

Not if/when, just when.

Yeah, either way. I know a number of people who had it months ago, even after doing everything right, and it was such a non-issue for healthy 40-somethings. Like a sore throat for a day. The only reason they were tested at all is because they're medical workers.

Then I've encountered a bunch of older people, including many who are obese, who had to get tested for employment, and they were totally shocked that they were positive. They had never had any symptoms. And these people are 50s/60s, and over 300 pounds.

I think there are a lot of people out there who have had it and don't even know it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone personally know of anyone that got Covid from any of these specific activities?

Yes.

I know two people who got Covid from haircuts. One in March and one in June. I also know someone who got it in the course of traveling. And I know someone who got it from eating indoors at a restaurant.

If contact tracing is crappy to non-existent, especially back in March, how do they know this?

Yes, how did these patients trace the exposure?

it makes for a more interesting story to scare their friends with.

Because the hairdressers contacted both of them.

She got a haircut and four or five days later the hairdresser called her and told her that a client whose hair he had cut the day before she came in had tested positive for covid so the hairdresser got tested and he was positive too. That was the case in March.

The second case the hairdresser called as well and the client got tested and was positive too.

Has they been masked?

My doctor has a patient who got COVID from a haircut over the summer - both masked. She uses it as an example to show that masks help but are not a magic bullet.

Cloth masks reduce risk droplet/aerosol transmission risk by about 20%, according to studies done on influenza transmission. Like you said, certainly not a silver bullet. They make a lot of people feel better, though.