I know or know if in my immediate circles - approximately forty people who have been diagnosed with COVID 19 in the last two months. The teams I play silly web games with had several people who got sick, and one who passed away. One of my writer's groups had someone contract it, and their whole pod got it too. Another writer I met virtually has a relative who is currently sick. In one of my knitter's groups, one person's coworker had a whole segment of the family contract it. So all of this is to say, I know we are so, so tired of this. But we still need to be vigilant. We need to be honest and clear with those we meet up with about the risks we have chosen to engage in. And we need to continue to limit interactions, and space them out wherever possible so that if we get sick, we aren't the disease vector that takes out a large number of people.
COVID 19 isn't as infectious as some other diseases. But it's genius - other than being novel, which is always an advantage because human immune systems can get lazy with unrecognized viruses - it's genius is it's incubation period. On average, each person infects on average 2-3 other people, even with the new variants. (Standard disclaimer, I have read up on this, but I am not an epidemiologist. I know just enough to know what R2.7 is supposed to mean.) But if you don't know you are sick, and those 2-3 people don't know they are sick, by the time you can alert them, they will have passed it on to others. Unless after the gathering, you all went home and quarantined. And yes, I have seen the stories about outbreaks on sports teams, schools, camps, colleges, and weddings. But again, one gathering spreads out because those infected continue to go places and interact with more folks.
So, it's repetitive but true. Wash your hands frequently and thoroughly. Stay home when you can. Wear masks when interacting with folks outside your household.
