*IS* a real thing, if you’ll pardon my saying so.
Middle-ish of August, one of the kids that lives here went to a weekend party for a couple of hours. Two days later, she was sick; testing for Covid was positive. Over the next four days, the mom tested positive; the next day, the second kid tested positive, and the day after that, the third adult went down. Four people, four bedrooms. I slept on the couch. Having seen that I couldn’t trust the masking OTHER people were doing, I stayed in the basement for two hours after anyone else was prowling around (excellent HVAC & HEPA-quality filters), and went masked THEN. EVERY TIME. I used what I knew about the virus, used ACTUAL N95, as I took care of everyone else *and* the house (it’s a slovenly, careless bunch, I’m sorry to say). I slept on the couch every night, the bedroom having become isolation wards…double-masked, as everyone else would come down to grab breakfast while I was still asleep.
By Labor Day, they were symptom-free and back to the grind. I didn’t get sick…because I used my brain & what I *knew*, and in stuck with it. No one has relapsed, and TO THIS DAY I have not caught the bloody thing, despite being in several high-risk, high-susceptibility groups. As the designated errand-runner (and unable to afford the instacart up charges), I have gone masked in stores & around others out of the house, since March - what was, ‘19? ‘20?
No one has ever challenged me for going masked…and I’m in one of the very Trumpiest sections of one of the very reddest parts of the country, BTW.
Anyway, point is, Covid is STILL here and STILL HAPPENING.