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[Emrys]

31. I'm in the UK, and I haven't had COVID (yet) and generally have been masking indoors up until a few months ago,

when I did finally go out and eat and be entertained in some comparatively airy venues. I knew I was taking a risk, but I think I needed to come to terms with dropping my guard at some point, and I guess that was it.

I still usually mask up in supermarkets, maybe in more recent times dropping it briefly to speak clearly to cashiers etc. - basically any of them with narrower aisles or where I feel at all uncomfortable about rubbing shoulders with people in a crowd.

Whatever arguable protection the mask may give, wearing it does seem to help encourage most folks to give you a wider berth, perhaps from self-protection as they think you might be infected (heaven forbid it might be because they think you or a close loved one may be especially vulnerable).

My wife had it, but I never got it. Both she and I are fully vacced up to the extent that our health service provides. My claim that I didn't get it is borne out by having tested myself every morning for a week and never gotten a positive result, let alone any symptoms, whereas my wife tested positive on her first test and then still after five days, so it seems it wasn't an anomalous strain that could escape detection. We took fairly basic precautions, physical distancing, separate cutlery etc., regular handwashing and excellent ventilation (luckily, it was in the summer). I was amazed (and grateful) to get through the week and escape unscathed.