What will it take for you to socialize again?
 

Obviously COVID-19 has caused drastic changes to our everyday life. My question is do you think you will ever go back to inviting people to your home for a meal without worrying about masks or social distancing? Will you ever feel comfortable sitting around your dinner table playing cards with friends? What will it take before you are willing to do that? I guess I am curious if a COVID vaccine takes 10 years to develop how many will spend that entire time living in a state of social isolation.

Great question. When the number of new cases drop almost to zero and they have a cure.

Already have done the things you mentioned for a few months. We are going out to eat tonight with our neighbors.

We are still waiting for our HAZMAT suits to arrive which are on back order from Amazon. Alexa keeps me updated as to the shopping status daily. When they come in we will be able to go out to friends homes and socialize. We can simply jump into our recently installed HAZMAT decontamination shower then hang up the reusable suits. It's going to be great for dancing at the squares in those too! Imagine the opportunity for losing some of the weight gained during the Covid-19 pandemic! I call my weight gain the Covid 20!

My activities/social life never changed with the exception of restaurants etc. that have or were closed. Friends still visit, we still visit friends. No masks, no gloves, no flu.

7 left. Move on this one. lol
Robot Check

A vaccine that works

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We still play exec golf with friends 4-5 times per week, only with friends that we know (the best we can anyway) are "clean", still -distance. We have gone out to eat 12+ times in Late May and June us solo or with close friends - ONLY to places that are "clean" and servers etc are masked.

NO ONE is in our house - it is our "CLEAN" sanctuary for now. Hopefully will change at some time in the near future.

I WISH that TV folks WOULD 'mask up' - esp in grocery stores etc. At our ages - way too risky to catch that bug.
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What will it take ?
 

For Poker - A Chip and a Chair, as Doyle would say

For A bottle of Beer - A Church Key

For A Sip of Bourbon - A Glass (Cup) and an Ice Cube

For A Non Political Conversation - A Smiling Face

We Moved Down Here to be Sociable, not hermits or recluses.. Ever hear of Howard Hughes and what he looked like after years of being a recluse ? That;s what happens when you;re afraid of your own shadow. Going to the Beach in a week, then again around Labor Day.

NOTE: The median Age of a Villager is 67 or 68. If you;re worried about going out now, and waiting for a vaccine, chances are you won;t volunteer to be one of the first million to get it.. you;ll want to wait several years for it to be proven safe, because the news will tell you someone had an adverse effect.

So smug people call for the thinning of the herd.. warning people to stay inside and avoiding contact with others. Darwin called it survival of the fittest. Sunshine and social interaction gets you further than hiding in your house and staying away from people .

Time will tell which portion of the population gets thinned more than the other, of whether it will remain the same .. Meanwhile, Father time moves along, and the sands in the hourglass don;t stop moving.

Those that deny and put their grandkids at risk in the face of facts continue to amaze.

So far the youngest person to die was a New Port Richey 17 year old, if it can whack a 17 yr old, we don't have a chance if we get it--be safe, keep distant till a vaccine is available --

Grandkids at risk? Unless the disease can fly itself 1000 miles, I'm not worried about my grandkids. Sorry, I didn't understand your post.

The grandkids risk is that you make a decision and won't be around to see them, you make a decision where you might just get sick and they go through the stress of not knowing how sick you are, that your legacy might also be that you are asymptomatic and just pass it on to others. Your grandkids are probably in good enough health to recover, the only thing that can protect you today is your immune system. It's all risk you may be willing to take, but if it goes bad on any level they have to live with your bad decision and avoidance of the facts....this is not the flu.

After vaccinated for the virus AND it is downgraded from pandemic to flu like status....that goes for eating out, flying, cruises, travel requiring hotel stops, etc.

When we Facetime with the two sets of Grandchildren in N.J. we observe the other set of Grandparents at their home. Instead of coming unglued and causing an irreparable rift in a family that is otherwise inseparable I wait and catch my son's when they are alone and I calmly point out the facts as I understand them. This past weekend another twist. Great Grandpa who is 102 got on to say hello to us on Facetime because he was at the house with The Grandchildren. I stated my case to our sons calmly. Normally on any other issue, I don't point out any wrongdoing or try to improve their parenting skills. Keeping my mouth shut has drastically improved the relationships in the entire family. I won't be a part of this wrongdoing and there is a whole lot more of this going on than we could ever imagine with other people.

We desperately miss the friends we've made in The Villages but they mingle with others and have family from Hotspots come and stay with them here. Mask's, Washing Hands & Social Distancing be damned. I'm never going to try and straighten them out unless they asked for my opinion. They Sheepishly explain their reasons for the family visits without me prompting from me. I listen quietly and just ask if they are aware of the everchanging guidelines.

We cancelled our vacation to the north for this summer that was going to be between one and two months but we don't want to be part of harming anyone. Sometimes it is not popular or comfortable to do the thing that is best for all but as the Patriarch of Our Family, I'm gonna do the tough things that need to be done.

When the coast is clear and all stars are in alignment we will begin our lives in full again. It will be even sweeter if we do the best we can now. :icon_wink: