COVID

[Rustyoznail]

I had a bad case of pneumonia around 2015. When I heard Covid was potentially worse than that, it scared me. Pneumonia was bad enough.

We were chucked out of the office with an hour's warning in March 2020. I set up an office in the spare bedroom and stayed there for two years. I caught covid after two jabs, and it was bearable. A thumping headache, lethargic, wracking cough. I've had a third jab, and about three months later picked up another lot of covid. It was just the raspy cough this time.

Writing? It certainly helped to have something fun to think about. I spent way too much time on the Lit forums too.

 

[WyreBendr0417]

I did not get COVID, but had friends and family that did. All are okay now. The only effects it had on me were the social aspects of it, but I'm a homebody anyway so there wasn't much change there either. My workplace stayed in full force since we had a few governmental contracts making all positions essential.
I hadn't started writing and submitting stories to Lit yet. That wasn't until early 2021 after I'd left my job the previous fall for other medical issues.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

1. Did you get COVID? If so, how bad was it?
2. Did the outbreak affect your life much?
3. Did it affect your writing at Literotica much

1 - I have not personally gotten the Vids.
At least two dozen of my co-workers [who I see and interact with daily, including two of my officemates] have, several multiple times. One of our docs, despite getting all the vaccines and boosters available, has gotten every major variant. Four, I think. Twice it seemed like a bad cold, and twice it knocked her flat for a week. I know four or five people with close relatives who died of it. We've had at least four major breakouts (multiple dozens of people), and two or three minor breakouts (a few people). One of my clients died from it, and it was a contributing factor to the death of a couple others.

2- still evaluating. It changed very little about my work; I still went into work every day, still saw patients in person. Some of our regular meetings were moved to video, but nothing about the day to day was much different. But because of outbreaks at sister facilities and staffing shortages, and some other stuff, it greatly changed where our patients come from, which complicates things significantly. And it changed the kind of patients we get, to some extent. Personally, I've had some ups and big downs. It definitely exacerbated my hermit tendencies, maybe more to my detriment than I thought at first. And the constant background hum of stress has worn on me.

3- I don't think the Vids itself impacted my writing. But the 'side effects' of the increased stress at work, and my tendency to go into full sloth mode when im stressed definitely did. I haven't published a story in years. I haven't even looked at my most promising drafts in years.

But, I feel like things were getting better, and I'm hopeful that by summer I'll write some more.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I wouldn't be surprised if a number of those saying they haven't had it, have.

For almost the whole pandemic, the protocol where I work was to test everyone a person came in contact with, three times a week for two weeks. Plus there were several rounds of random testing. I quit counting at 40 tests. If I've gotten it without knowing, it's bern in the past month with no symptoms.
But, I work in healthcare in a congregate care setting with vulnerable people, so my experience is different than a lot of people.

 

[RejectReality]

No clue if I had it, but I had a mild not quite 24-hour flu in Dec. of 2019, and two more incidents of the same since. Thought the last one was a reaction to a tetanus booster that I'd gotten, but then the boy tested positive for covid. By then, work was like, "Well, if you haven't tested positive..." Meaning if you feel well enough to work, don't get tested and come in. The longest I was down in any of the three incidents was about 16 hours.

I was deemed a "necessary" worker, and so my primary routine was unchanged. The first days of lockdown were actually pretty nice. Roads were empty, so my 40 minute one way daily commute was pleasantly unobstructed. I'd recently had a brain fart and accidentally stocked up on TP, so I missed that whole fiasco beyond marveling at it when shopping. I was making plans to go buy a new mattress while on vacation in April of '20, so that kind of went out the window. Only got around to it a couple of weeks ago. Same vacation, different year.

They asked a few people to take temporary, voluntary layoffs... The week I was on vacation, of course. So I missed the opportunity for bonus vacation, which I could have afforded and would have happily taken. I was in a position to brush off the slowdown and loss of hours that hit due to everyone else being locked in their house as well. I had a few inconveniences and quite a few pleasant boons, but otherwise life chugged along in inexorable fashion with little change.

It didn't really affect my writing, as I'm at the mercy of a capricious muse who takes long vacations without so much as a note to say she's leaving. I produced no more and no less than usual the last three years.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I dodged COVID until June 2022, after I'd had the two main vaxes and two boosters. What I went through was a three-day set of cold symptoms, never severe enough to require Paxlovid.
It affected my life in the sense that my wife and I were worried about it, and (as others have noted) much of what we enjoyed in retirement was less available. She has never tested positive.
Apart from me writing a COVID story that went into the Lit 'anthology,' the pandemic probably hasn't affected my Lit projects (beyond being mentioned as a background event).

 

[ronde]

I think my wife and I both had it, but we didn't get tested so I don't know for sure. She felt like she had the flu for about a week and then got better fast. I felt like crap for a couple days and then it was over for me. That's probably because we apparently have very strong immune systems. We hadn't been sick for years before that other than a cold or two, except when I was getting flu shots at work. I got the flu every year I got a flu shot. We didn't get the vaccine because there didn't seem to be a need and we kept reading about side effects.

It didn't really affect our lives all that much except for the inconvenience of wearing a mask to go shopping. I did mix up a batch of hand sanitizer but only one. My state ended the emergency after a month so we stopped using it and just wore masks where we had to.

The only thing it did for my writing was to give me half a dozen story ideas about Covid and other potential epidemics.

 

[PennameWombat]

1. Did you get COVID? If so, how bad was it?

June, 2022. Fever peaked at 104 F, with all-over body aches, but the peak only lasted about 36 hours. The next 10 days I had essentially zero energy, although no fever, just a slowly diminishing all over ache. Seemingly no long-COVID affects, unlike a good friend of mine who still has blood clotting and other chronic issues. He's been needing a knee replacement for a few years now, but the symptoms are severe enough they can't/won't do the operation.

2. Did the outbreak affect your life much?

Not really. My job was already part-time 'remote', a laptop and a network connection and I was fine. Our area had some severe but short-term lockdowns, and a variety of shortages of basic goods (like, uh, toilet paper.)

In one way it helped. I could avoid for a while needing to think up excuses or lies about how to avoid social gatherings...

3. Did it affect your writing at Literotica much?

My output for here is wildly inconsistent, so no, not really.

 

[shakna]

I got it about a month ago, for the first time. Three jabs and a strong set of incentives to run away from any chance.

I could not think for the week it hit me. Zero memories from that time, but I was 100% zombie. I couldn't even think through taking my meds - putting med on tongue, and then adding water, was two steps too many. I needed help to get by.

And since getting hit, my cancer went from "shit" to "oh fuck, no". Trashed my already crap immune system.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I had a bad case of pneumonia around 2015. When I heard Covid was potentially worse than that, it scared me. Pneumonia was bad enough.

I’ve had pneumonia twice and - if you can believe it - pleurisy once. I don’t have a very good chest [insert joke of your choice here].

Em

 

[Thefireflies]

I had it but fortunately my symptoms were minor. The biggest impact on me was the requirement to isolate from family for 10 days while feeling totally fine. I know, i can hear the world's smallest violin playing... The impact of the pandemic, in general, was similar to the rest of the population, with isolation from the lockdowns and work etc, and I can't complain. I know some had it way worse than my experience. I don't think lockdown impacted my writing, but it did inspire me to write one story set mostly during the early covid lockdowns, where two minor characters who were barely mentioned in a previous story got their chance to star in their own tale, reconciling after many years apart when forced to spend time together during the initial covid period.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I’ve had pneumonia twice and - if you can believe it - pleurisy once. I don’t have a very good chest [insert joke of your choice here].

Em

I can believe it, and no jokes here. It felt like I was drowning.

You have my sympathy.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I can believe it, and no jokes here. It felt like I was drowning.

You have my sympathy.

Pleurisy felt like I had been beaten repeatedly in the rib cage with a baseball bat. I actually thought I might be having a heart attack at first (odd at twenty something, but not unheard of).

Not at all pleasant.

I was delirious with pneumonia both times .

Em

 

[onehitwanda]

1. Pretty sure I had it twice last year. The first time I didn't even notice. The second time I went down like a poleaxed cow for 24h then bounced back. Which is bonkers, really, because when I catch something innocuous like a common cold I feel shit for weeks.

2. I went from having to go into London (1hr commute either way) 3x a week to not having to return to the office except by choice. That made a massive improvement in my mood, job satisfaction, and general demeanor. I don't think I could go back to having to go to the office on a regular basis, which will be a problem when I finally get tired of my current role.

On the negative side it's made me even more claustrophobic. Whereas previously I'd have tolerated crowds, now I just can't.

3. I think the free time improved my writing.

 

[MrPixel]

Pleurisy felt like I had been beaten repeatedly in the rib cage with a baseball bat. I actually thought I might be having a heart attack at first (odd at twenty something, but not unheard of).

Yep. That was my experience with it. I was 24 at the time.

Pneumonia once, of the "walking" variety. A funny/not funny is at the time I was trying to make a living as a tuba player, and I had a major concert while I was sick with it. I actually played fine, and did my best to muffle the cough with a handkerchief, but I'm sure the recording was rendered unusable.

 

[alohadave]

if you can believe it - pleurisy once.

I had that as a child. It felt like someone was stabbing my lung.

 

[Duleigh]

I'm curious about my fellow Literoticans:

1. Did you get COVID? If so, how bad was it?
Yes, and I have several preexisting conditions that should have made it fatal, however I had everything I needed to fight it: Oxygen, albuterol in multiple forms, several pulmonary medications and megadoses of vitamins B, C, and D. It wasn't very bad once I started dosing with albuterol and a nebulizer. I never needed the oxygen, and preferred to nap with a CPAP machine. It was about as bad as a cold.

2. Did the outbreak affect your life much?
No. I actually moved from Colorado to Florida at the height of the outbreak. Driving on the interstate was a breeze, there was me and a few trucks. I reached Florida in June 2020 when they started to open back up. I had already been unjustly sacked from Comcast so I didn't get a dime of Covid cash.

3. Did it affect your writing at Literotica much?
Meaning did I write about mass hysteria and lockdowns? No. Meaning did it increase my output? Oh yeah. I don't know why, I don't do a lot otherwise

 

[EmilyMiller]

I had that as a child. It felt like someone was stabbing my lung.

Awful isn’t it ?

Em

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yep. That was my experience with it. I was 24 at the time.

Pneumonia once, of the "walking" variety. A funny/not funny is at the time I was trying to make a living as a tuba player, and I had a major concert while I was sick with it. I actually played fine, and did my best to muffle the cough with a handkerchief, but I'm sure the recording was rendered unusable.

I thought it was really weird getting it, but I guess not so much.

Em

 

[Lifestyle66]

My wife and I both think we contracted COVID just before all the lockdowns the first week of March 2020, because we just returned from vacation, and each took turns sleeping off muscle aches for one day. In Feb 2022, I had muscle aches again for two days (felt the same as the March 2020) and slept it off, and a day later tested positive. Then this past January, my wife again got it for just two days of muscle aches (tested positive).

Other than missing going out to restaurants around the house, we still traveled in an RV and kept going as much as normal, visiting those friends who were equal risk takers and avoiding those who preferred we stay away. My wife took the vaccines as soon as they were available, just so she could get back to socializing with those requiring it. I didn't take the vaccines and just continued avoiding them, ... until they got over it.

As for my writing, I realized with my series building with swinger encounters, the timeline must occur and finish entirely before the lockdowns, since the bar venues and swinger house parties were forbidden.

 

[djrip]

As for my writing, I realized with my series building with swinger encounters, the timeline must occur and finish entirely before the lockdowns, since the bar venues and swinger house parties were forbidden.

There's no sign the pandemic ever happened in my writing. No need to schedule around it, it's just not a thing.

 

[KeithD]

There's no sign the pandemic ever happened in my writing. No need to schedule around it, it's just not a thing.

I have one, written for an exercise with this as the theme, but, other than that, no I don't include it in my writing.

 

[Lifestyle66]

There's no sign the pandemic ever happened in my writing. No need to schedule around it, it's just not a thing.

When I outlined a list of swinger events I planned for my MCs, I thought to begin the series with a thoughtful reflection of his younger years by the MC when he sees a "Star Wars IX The Rise of Skywalker" poster. But that movie came out in 2019, and the lockdowns started less than a year later. So, anyone reading the later chapters with their house parties could say "Swinger house parties weren't occurring at that time due to COVID."

We can ignore history up to a certain point. But if we inject a specific song name or movie title into a scene, there are those who will see the errors and sometimes call it out as "that song wasn't recorded until after your story!"

 

[panaflora]

We're a little over 3 years removed from the COVID outbreak. Without getting into the contentious politics of it, or one's views about vaccines or masks, etc., I'm curious about my fellow Literoticans:

1. Did you get COVID? If so, how bad was it?

I got it ten days after my second booster.
However I was eligible for Paxlovid and only had two days of significant symptoms (dry hacking cough, headache).

2. Did the outbreak affect your life much?

I spent six days in quarantine in the bedroom. I washed hands fanatically and was masked whenever my wife came in with meals. I spent most of my time on the computer.
No one else in the house got it.

3. Did it affect your writing at Literotica much?

It may have precipitated my eventual writing.

 

[alohadave]

There's no sign the pandemic ever happened in my writing. No need to schedule around it, it's just not a thing.

I lived through it, I don't want to read about it in fiction.

Interestingly, something similar happened after the Spanish Flu. People didn't write about it, and just kind of pretended it never happened.