Covid Support Thread
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When I was a kid, we used to do both… We’d go to Florida to visit my mom’s family and then have a separate Christmas with my dad’s family in NH. It was great!
Now I don’t have to choose… My husband doesn’t do holidays with his family (long insane story), so we just get together with my parents and brother.
Though not this year. My parents are going to stop by and drop off presents/pick up on the 24th, and we’ll open them on Zoom (kill me) on the 25th.
EU Health Authority will be evaluating Moderna vaccine as of Jan 6. EU shuts for the holidays and nothing is going to stop that. To be fair, they typically shut down a lot of their operations in November so the fact that there are still operations happening in December is because of COVID and I suppose that’s positive?
Being a Jew-ish, childless person makes this time of the year so freaking easy. This year, sadly, the Chinese restaurant next door closed (they were struggling before COVID).
So yeah, my sister who also lives here married a Jewish gentleman. She still gets to go home for Christmas and her husband and kids do as well. My other sister, BIL and nieces live in my hometown. So it’s been easy transition into adulthood to all still spend Christmas together. The husband’s family lives about 35 min from us. The husband and I are totally fine doing our own thing. It works for all of us.
I love that Chinese food at Christmas tradition, it looks awesome. I wish it was a thing here because oh my god I’d be all about it.
So my little sister went to my parents’ house in PA for Christmas, and she is so afraid of giving me the virus by accident that she didn’t feel comfortable sleeping in the same place (we would both have been sleeping in their basement add-on) and wanted us all to wear masks in the house. Plus she has to quarantine for a week before she goes back to work (in healthcare). All that to say, she’s leaving PA on Sunday the 27th and my parents will be traveling to visit me. I’m quarantined and will be getting a test just to be sure I’m negative later this week.
It’s hard, but it is what it is. We’ll all open presents on Zoom when my parents get here to me in NC. I’ll do most/all of the cooking, which is fine with my dad because he loves my cooking. My boyfriend is not even seeing his family (his parents are in their 70s) so I’m lucky I get to see mine. He is getting a test tomorrow, actually, because he has a dry cough and he’s terrified of accidentally giving it to me. Hopefully he can get a rapid test and I’ll see him tomorrow; if not, it’ll be 3 days and he’ll have dinner with my family when they get here. I really, really don’t think he has it but he’s so worried that I told him to get the test rather than risk it/risk his sanity.
I’ve been legit hunkered down here. I’ve been NOWHERE. The weekend before last I was out for a couple errands and it was so packed in every store, I just ordered all my presents online.
My boyfriend is not at all big on Christmas, but he really enjoyed my family’s celebration last year. I got him several new kitchen tools this year that I’m super excited for him to open (he’s a vegan chef). My family always goes all out on presents – to the point of ridiculousness because my sister and I are in our 30s – but we truly enjoy showing each other love that way. I’m excited for him to feel that familial love: dinner, presents, game playing, drinking bourbon slush which is our family’s staple. He didn’t see his family for Thanksgiving, either, which has been hard on him and his mom. Hopefully if he can get a negative test he’ll feel comfortable seeing them, too.
So yeah, I’ll be without my family on Christmas eve and Christmas day. Planning on watching my guilty pleasure movies like The Holiday and When Harry Met Sally, ordering Indian food, and drinking my favorite $19/bottle prosecco (maybe more than one, eep) after what is hopefully a hearty jaunt with my dogs. And of course, showering them in their presents, not like they don’t get bully sticks and treats all day every day anyway.
LadyE, are you sure mixing that many households (essentially four, since your sister will be in the bubble, even if you aren’t seeing her) for indoor mea is wise given that you are so high risk? My family is not high risk and we will not be seeing relatives – my BIL and his family – who live 45 minutes away (nor did we see them for Thanksgiving). We all have our own risk threshold, and I know LOTS of people are ignoring advice to the contrary and mixing households this week but you’ve been so cautious that I worry you might be letting your guard down because it’s Christmastime. Your sister will have just seen your parents, she works in healthcare (potentially around sick people, yes?). Did she take off work and quarantine for two weeks and then take a test and wait for a negative result before seeing your parents? Have you parents been absolutely quarantined for two weeks and will they and your sister remain quarantined the whole time she’s visiting? Has your boyfriend been quarantining for two weeks before getting his test? And then will he wait for a negative and quarantine while he waits and then drive straight to your place without going anywhere else on the way (stores, etc)?
These are all things experts are advising is you are mixing households indoors right now. That’s the advice for the general public. The advice for people who are high risk is to not mix households with anyone else because it is just too damn risky right now. We hit a record yesterday for hospitalizations. I would not be surprised if we hit a new record today for deaths. Please be very careful. I know this is hard – my children haven’t seen their only living grandparents in ten months, the haven’t been inside a school in nine months, this is HARD – but we have just a few more months to go before wide-scale vaccinations happen, and you will probably get to be vaccinated even earlier. Hang in there.
@LadyE – please be careful. Fyodor and BoF have been isolating and they still managed to pick up the virus.
Will your parents be stopping anywhere between PA and NC – because a stop for a bathroom break is when they’re going to be exposed to a whole hell of a lot of people. Even with a mask, it’s still exposure. This is most easily transmitted via lung, mouth and nose but those are not the only vulnerable areas.
Masks are NOT 100% – they are definitely key, but the virus is transferred through membranes too.
The Lady E —
Your plans don’t make sense. Why would you quarantine so intensively, which is excellent, and then spoil it all with this gettogether, when within 6-7 months all of you will be vaccinated. You need to tell your family that this isn’t the year for this sort of thing. All of the public health authorities are very strongly advising against families getting together for Christmas. We are all seening what the Thanksgiving family gatherings caused. Christmas will be worse, because we are starting at a higher level. My wife and I also have extra risk. We are going to stay quarantined. The family understands. Yours also should understand.ListforLeslie when you say it’s transmitted through other membranes are you talking about the eyes?
Yeah, we’re not visiting anyone this year, either. Same as Thanksgiving. It is hard. But the risk is just not worth it, particularly since we are (hopefully!) nearing the end of this with the vaccine. I’d rather have a safe 4th of July celebration than risk getting or giving this just because it’s Christmastime.
I waited in my car in a line for nearly two hours yesterday at Dodger Stadium to get another Covid test. Yeah… real fun.
No real concerns. Or symptoms. If its negative, I may drive to arizona for dinner and see the folks. I’ve been locked away for weeks other than walks and a trip to the store.
But honestly? Just not in the mood for the trip though. I don’t give a fuck about Christmas. Or anything else lately. All that my life is now is one blinding l, relentless headache. Yeah. I’m really not up much to being a guest.
Day 7 update: for the last 3-4 days my husband’s symptoms have just been cough, sore throat and runny nose, he says basically just like a seasonal cold. Knock on wood it stays mild. Hasn’t lost sense of smell or taste or had any shortness of breath.
I got tested again yesterday afternoon and it came back negative again this morning.
