"COVID-Cautious Americans Feel Abandoned"
For all of 2020, Alex, a 28-year-old living in New York, followed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 guidance “religiously.” Then, in 2021, something began to shift. That spring, the CDC said it was okay for vaccinated people to ditch their masks in most places. But people were clearly still getting sick—including Alex, who got COVID-19 for the first time in late 2021 and later developed Long COVID symptoms.
“There was this reckoning moment where it was like, ‘Maybe the CDC is not being totally honest with us about the situation,’” he says. “‘Maybe they’re trying to present it like we can go back to normal when we can’t.’”
For Alex, who asked to use only his first name to protect his privacy, that feeling has only deepened. The virus killed roughly 1,000 people in the U.S. during the week ending March 2 and has left about 7% of U.S. adults with Long COVID—but despite its continuing toll, real-time data on infections are limited, most mask mandates are gone, and isolation guidance has been scaled back.
(snip)
Though it may not feel like it, a significant portion of U.S. adults still care about COVID-19. In a KFF survey from late 2023, 26% of respondents said they were “somewhat” or “very” worried about catching the virus, and about half said they planned to take at least one precaution during the winter season, such as wearing a mask or avoiding large gatherings.
(more at link)
https://time.com/6960789/covid-19-cautious-americans/
i guess i'm one of those 26% -- i mask at work and in the grocery store and any occasional trip i make to michaels or target and such. no one enters my living space without wearing a mask (and the only ones that come in are essential such as plumbers or company doing checks on fire alarm, etc. even tho i have 4 air filters), i don't go to crowded places -- haven't been to a restaurant or movie theater since before 2020. i work with a lot of kids and parents do not always keep them home when they are sick (with colds, bad colds, flu, and even fucking covid!) -- and they also don't teach them to cover their mouths when they cough or sneeze. when i visit my granddaughter i wear a mask unless we're outside b/c if i have something (such as covid) and am asymptomatic i certainly don't want to be passing that on to my 3 yr old grandbaby.
such is my life as a 26 percenter.
oh well. i'm definitely used to it.
sometimes i just miss the "before" times
= new reply since forum marked as read
looks like you are more likely to get Long Covid in the younger age brackets. Surprising to me.
than to see another Dune movie. 
I don't know how. I mask whenever out in public, hand sanitizer, wash hands religiously.
My Dr. put me on Paxlovid immediately and I never really got awfully sick.
I couldn't get rid of the virus from my body, though! I tested positive for 7 weeks without any symptoms. 
Finally it let go and I was glad to be rid of it.
I'm still taking all the precautions. At 75 yrs. with a couple of co-morbidities I don't want to chance getting it again.
We all need to be "somewhat worried" for the rest of our lives.
and if that's what you're doing that's not cool 
Messaging didn't seem clear to me
just getting my mail and have hand sanitizer in my car to use after going anyplace. I don't want to jinx anything, but I haven't had so much as a cold since late 2019 so I'm doing something right. I buy Dial antibacterial soap in bulk now, lol.
Like I said, I hope I didn't just jinx myself writing that down. 
