Covid question: should I go see my friend?

[NJCher]

Ten-fifteen days ago my best and dearest girlfriend went to FL on a trip to see her 80 + uncle and his wife. Long story short she thought she was exposed to Covid and immediately returned to nj before testing positive.

Her exposure was due to the thoughtlessness of a FL friend who had it but didn’t know it at the time. The friend also exposed the uncle and aunt, and the uncle has been hospitalized with Covid. He was just released today. Five days after the exposure, my friend came down with it, and so did the aunt. All had been vaccinated and had boosters.

The cases were all mild, and the uncle was hospitalized because of underlying conditions, namely Copd. The cases were also relatively short. My friend said the worst part was the dizziness; her aunt said the worst was a day of stomach illness including diarrhea plus extreme exhaustion.

My friend is disgusted and will never set foot in FL again. She thinks the populace has a cavalier attitude toward Covid because of desantis. After returning to nj she learned her “friend” recovered and went right back to socializing and shopping without a mask.

So the question is: should I see my friend tomorrow or this weekend? She now tests negative and says she feels great.

We both have nice outdoor areas where we can visit.

I really miss her as we get together every few days for tea or a meal, but I wonder what input some of you might have. I’ve been vaccinated and boosted but it’s been some time since the last booster. March or April, I think.

[SheltieLover]

1. Wear a mask

[elleng]

2. Sorry for the misery.

Outdoor areas good. You might check with your doc, but I'd say YES, if you keep your distance.

[BannonsLiver]

3. Wear a mask if you are together indoors

Avoid hugging and close contact. If outside sit 8-10 feet apart. If there is wind the risk goes down further. Masks outside 10 feet apart if it’s just the 2 of you is overkill.

[calimary]

4. Yep. Gotta do it. STILL have to take precautions.

Husband and I both do. And we've each had our shots and both our boosters.

We're taking no chances. And so far, so good!

[Dorian Gray]

13. next month?

Come ON! That's ridiculous.

Both rapid test today and tomorrow. If both tests are negative tomorrow, you're good to go. Stay outdoors and enjoy your friend.

[orleans]

6. glad she's testing negative. i'm assuming you are too.

even tho you're both vaxed & boosted & testing negative ... ? (one of you could still get covid between the space of testing and drinking together -- )

my thought is getting together outside is probably fine.

keep a distance apart i guess.

[NJCher]

7. I've never had it

and don't intend to!

[Meowmee]

8. I would not

Prolly wait 2–3 weeks but still mask and be outside if possible. Maybe do a zoom instead if possible.

[MissB]

9. I would see them if

it has been at least 10 days since they started having symptoms.

[MontanaFarmer]

10. Yes. Go see your friend.

She's not going to infect you outdoors 10 days after testing positive. And if she happened to, you'll be fine. That's just 1 guy's opinion, but we just had it, no idea where it came from, and was super mild. Positive to negative in 4 days, symptoms very mild (nausea, mild dizziness one afternoon, little bit of congestion). Personally it's nothing at this point I'd worry about hiding from but I respect that others feel otherwise too. If you want to go, go and don't worry.

[babylonsister]

11. I live with my bf and he got it about 2 months ago.

He stayed in another room for the first two days until he felt better. I never got it even though we are in close proximity.
How can someone be thoughtless if they didn't know they had it? But yes, Floriduh. Not many here are masking anymore.

I think you should go. I don't foresee living without covid in this country. At least cases are less serious for those vaxxed and boosted.

[Dorian Gray]

12. How many days has it been since her positive?

I think if she's testing negative on rapid tests two days in a row, you're totally fine. Sit outside. or Postpone it a few days if it isn't ten days past the positive test.

But, yeah, totally go see your friend. If she's testing negative now, she's one of the safest people to be around!

[Hortensis]

14. The person who came not knowing he/she was exposed could have been her.

Covid's endemic in all states now, including hers, but she traveled, and she traveled to Florida. Florida didn't come to her. And this hostility wasn't actually caused by Florida.

Bigotry is bigotry, a feeling that comes from within those inclined to it, triggered and fueled by anxiety and fear -- and there's a lot of those around these days. Targeting hostility at the people of an entire state comes from the same faults that lead to indulging hostility at people of different skin color or religion, or any of a thousand other targets of blame for their problems. People who drive foreign cars.

Should be okay to see your old friend now. Just don't catch her attitude, which should pass also. She's who she always was, but is, frankly, being a "Karen" at this point, righteous in her wrongdoing and believing she has society's permission to act out. And it is a "thing" now, after all. When society gets around to illuminating this hypocrisy, or just gets tired of it, she'll stop.

[NJCher]

16. hahah

Her name is Karen. But she's not a Karen.

A little background: the friend's husband IS NOT vaxxed and has an attitude about vaxxing. If only she'd known, but I guess we have to give friends the third degree these days.

She thinks it is likely the husband picked it up and gave it to his wife, her friend, as he goes around without a mask besides being unvaxxed.

My friend travelled to FL because her aunt and uncle are in their mid- to late-eighties. She should forgo seeing elderly relatives? I guess so, because she says she will never set foot in FL again.

But that is sad, because elderly relatives need to see us as much as we need to see them.

Finally, the point I would like to make about Florida is not bigotry. It is that governors create a subculture with their attitudes and ways of interacting with people. Who can forget desantis telling those teens to take off their masks? And now he is saying Florida children don't need the new vaccine that has just come out especially for their age group.

They create an attitude, and the attitude that desantis has created makes for a very dangerous atmosphere. Not everybody is an independent thinker and a researcher about Covid. Many people follow the social mores.

This is very dangerous in a "vacation state."

[Hortensis]

24. 48% of FL voters voted Biden, 51% tRump. We all have our

various facets, seeming good and not so depending on who's looking, and some are bigger or just catch the light more at certain times.

Regarding this geographic facet, insisting (and it IS the typical irrational, fact-ignoring insistence) that these 11 million FL voters are basically one -- and all to blame for her problems -- is a working example of bias/bigotry. Just as sure as the attitude of ANY people who claim ALL (insert any large group targeted for hostility) do (insert something to hate/blame them for).

(I just went and checked for a certain work forum always reliable for examples of staggering bigotry, like insisting black people slop their food down their chests and immigrants routinely carry deadly diseases. Yup still there. They're boring today -- I wanted to see reaction to the giant bombs going off at the hearings but they haven't been told what to say yet. Forced to fill time with the hoary old standard of claiming all Democrats are socialists; our cultural attitude -- Biden instead of DeSantis -- is turning the U.S. into Venezuela and soon we'll have to reuse toilet paper. )

We don't bother giving people the third degree these day, either, NJCher. They'd have to do the same with their contacts, who'd have to, etc. I was at a large pan-Asian market near Atlanta yesterday and at least a third (!) of the shoppers were unmasked, while shoppers at the one we usually go to just a few miles north (same chain) are still almost all masked up.

[NJCher]

26. it doesn't take every person to create a danger

What I think you're mistaking is that no one is mass blaming the people of Florida. Blaming the subculture that the governor has created is what is being blamed.

When it comes to Covid, it doesn't take 100% of the people to create a dangerous environment.

See my post below for how people behave because of social mores.

[NJCher]

27. oh and one more thing

It is important for liberals not to go around blaming bigotry when it's not an accurate assessment of the situation. We get a bad enough rap for being "politically correct" when it's deserved, let alone creating instances where it's not. Anyone with a college sociology course behind them (maybe even high school) can see and apply "subculture."

[Hortensis]

28. Oh. Btw, by her standards your friend is rightfully loathed for

being American under tRump; and many like her in other nations do. Has she checked a mirror for stigmata of her American attitude? Well over a MILLION dead now, and we're still going around and spreading disease.

Fwiw, shouldn't political label make no more difference than geography or skin color in making up either blame or excuses for an individual's own behaviors and personal choice of attitudes? One standard for ALL.

[NJCher]

30. How many times

Do I have to repeat subculture?

Sorry you don’t get it but I can’t spend any more time explaining it.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

17. Wish I could rec this post n/t

[NJCher]

19. if you think that

then you should familiarize yourself with subcultures and social mores.

Here is an example from my fairly blue state of NJ:

around here just about everyone wears a mask. You will even see a single person in a car wearing a mask.

A lot of people walk around here--to the store, to the library, to the laundramat. Walking down the street, outside, wearing a mask.

Now why?

Because of the social norms here.

As you can see from remarks upthread, just about everyone knows one really doesn't need a mask outdoors, particularly when one is alone.

This is the effect of social mores on the subculture of that state.

We have a progressive governor and a state health department that promotes mask wearing.

Florida has a major asshole for a governor who spreads lies and therefore, disease.

Now do you understand my point?

Has nothing to do with bigotry.

[hlthe2b]

15. Outdoors would provide minimal risk.

I have never masked outdoors, albeit I never had sustained very close contact with people outdoors throughout the pandemic. Close enough to talk with them as we typically walked around and watched our dogs play at the dog park, certainly, but not seated right next to them (or similar very close contact) I always mask indoors in public places, the ER, obviously, and with those whose status has not been recently tested.

Obviously, I am very well vaccinated and boosted, never tested positive nor had sufficient suspicious symptoms to suspect a false negative test, and have constant exposure--not to mention that the current infectiousness of variants means a subclinical or asymptomatic infection is extremely common.

[Pyryck]

18. You've seen first hand the chance of a break-thru infection

If you are willing to take that risk, possibly become infected yourself and then spread it around to your other family members unknowingly, then by all means, visit, but please take as many precautions as you can.

The vaccine shots and boosters do not end or stop covid, even from spreading to other humans. They simply lessen the effects of the virus in the human body.

[NJCher]

22. I think you make a good point

I think I am going to hold off on this visit.

BTW, I saw your user name the other day on the new DU members and got a laugh out of it because I misread it for "Pryck." That would be a funny user name. You are obviously not a Pryck!

[Hortensis]

25. We have friends and relatives who believe they've had it two and

even three times now. Including grandchildren in another state who were vaxxed as early and much as they could be but allowed to play outdoor team sports.

Most of our friends are older, and theirs', and the numbers of people who've died or survived severe cases with serious sequelae -- once we look beyond just first degree of separation friends to second and third -- are appalling.

[maxsolomon]

20. Probably fine, especially outdoors.

She's testing negative.

Low risk.

[AntivaxHunters]

21. The answer is NO!

Absolutely positively not.

You have to be safe and you have to be vigilant.
It is NOT worth the risks which can leave you with a lifetime of disabilities or death.

Period.

[mcar]

23. She's tested negative so why not?

[beaglelover]

29. Yes, of course you should see her.

[RobinA]

31. Go See Her

Sit outside. Unless you have health issues you should be fine. I have it now, exposed on a transatlantic flight by someone who tested negative the night before. We both had masks on. We’re all going to get it if we decide to live life.