It depends so much on our personal circumstances, clearly. It is also interesting that we all live in places where the pandemic is evolving differently.


At one point earlier this year, our region was a hotspot and vaccines were just starting to be rolled out to more groups. I was definitely very cautious then. Hospitals were full and I wasn't vaccinated. so getting sick then would have been a very bad idea.


Now, I have loosened up a bit. Active cases are low, so are hospital admissions and positivity rates. I have gotten my booster, as have a large percentage of people in this country. I'm middle aged but generally healthy. Omicron is not much of an issue, at least for now. We still have a nationwide mask mandate. When I walk around my neighborhood in the open air, I bring one but only use it if I have close contact with someone, like when I go to the security gate to pick up a package. I do wear one whenever we run errands with people around, though.


My husband is a bit more risk averse than me, which is basically his personality. He wears a mask even walking around here. The other day a neighbor came by to discuss some work he was doing close the property line. I didn't bother to grab my mask to go look because it was a quick thing and we were both outdoors. I did keep my distance, though. My husband bugged me a bit for doing that.


Even he has loosened up somewhat as far as getting take-out and we tried to do outdoor dining once, but everything was full so we left. We also go to more places of business in person that aren't essential, using masks in all those situations, of course.


I understand, Sprinkl3 that you are in a very antivax/antimask region of the US and have health concerns. In your case, I can can see the need for those extra precautions when you are surrounded by people that won't even make basic concessions for public health.