vaccine Archives

Fun Ideas for Your First Post-COVID Date

You’re fully vaccinated, and you’re ready to head out on your first post-COVID date. After a year or more of staring at the same four walls, punctuated by only differing Zoom backgrounds, you’re more than ready to make it an occasion to remember.

What should you and your special someone do? After the quarantine, it’s challenging to choose. If you find yourself stumped, try one of these 11 fun ideas for your first post-COVID date.

Take Them Out to the Ballgame

Is your partner — or prospective one — a sports fanatic? If so, they had a long, lonely time in 2020. Many venues shut down, and teams played for cardboard cutouts. However, this summer, many venues return to full seating capacity, so take advantage.

If you find yourself in the Windy City, cheer on the Cubs or the Whitesox. You can’t beat the nostalgia of catching a game at Wrigley. However, if you or your date have children along, Guaranteed Rate field features the Xfinity KidZone to keep the littles entertained while you enjoy adult company.

Find Your Italian Restaurant

The restaurant industry took some of the harshest hits during the lockdown. Why not do your part to support local businesses by enjoying a bottle of red or white at a new favorite?

If linguine isn’t your deal, pick your favorite cuisine style. Call ahead for reservations, as demand is sure to soar. Ask your date about any food allergies so that you can select an appropriate spot.

Have a Picnic in the Park

You might find your favorite spot, too teeming with folks all as anxious to be out and about as you are. If you want to flee the madding crowds, why not have a picnic in the park?

Take a picnic basket — but leave your cellphone at home. Consider it a Zoom-free chance to disconnect and reconnect in real life.

Recreate Paparazzi Pics

Is your Instagram account looking a little bare? It’s time to fill it with all your adventures.

When you and your date get all dolled up to paint the town red, take dozens of photos. Invest in a selfie stick if you don’t already have one. Strike a pose in front of some of the most famous spots in your hometown and resurrect your social media feeds together.

Learn to Skateboard or Longboard

Learning a new skill is a fabulous way to bring you and that special someone closer. Choose something that makes you feel like a kid again, like skateboarding or long boarding. Take a lesson together, then head out to the nearest park to show off your new moves for the youngsters.

Try a Paddle board Yoga Class

If you thought balancing in tree pose was challenging on land, wait until you throw water into the equation. Yoga on a paddle board will work your core like no other workout, but you won’t even feel the burn. You’ll be too busy having fun and getting wet with this tough-as-nails, yet no-sweat activity.

Go Geocaching

Are you and your date urban explorers? Why not give geocaching a try? All you need is a device capable of reading GPS coordinates — your phone will do — and free club membership.

The game works by choosing a cache and programming the coordinates. Once you locate your booty, snap a photo to share your conquest on social media before leaving it for the next person.

Find an Open Mic Night

Famous performance artists like Taylor Swift kept going throughout the pandemic, but up-and-comers have had a rough go the past several months. Why not put some bread in their jar when you hit up an open mic night? If you or your date are brave and creative enough, you can even take the stage.

Discover Laser Tag

Now that you’re safe to interact with strangers indoors again, why not rediscover the thrill of the hunt. You and your partner can head to an indoor laser tag venue and see who can blast the other the most. Many such facilities also offer climbing walls and bounce facilities, so come prepared with comfy clothes and socks.

Ride to the Danger Zone

Theme parks also had a rough go of things in 2020, but those that previously closed are now reopening — why not go for a thrill ride or a dozen? Even if you don’t like loop coasters, you and your partner can get out your aggressions on the bumper cars. Feeling romantic? There’s nothing like a kiss atop the Ferris wheel.

Rediscover the Joy of Cinema

Finally, theaters also struggled to survive the pandemic. Why not treat your date to a buttery tub of popcorn and a matinee, now that you can? Alternatively, see if you can find a midnight screening of one of your favorite classics.

Create a First Post-COVID Date to Remember With These Tips

You want to make your first post-COVID date memorable. Try one of the above 11 tips.

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About The Author

Oscar Collins is the managing editor at Modded. He writes about cars, fitness, the outdoors, and more. Follow @TModded on Twitter for more articles from the Modded team.

My Thoughts On The COVID19 Vaccine

Either way that you land on the great debate of the COVID vaccine, everyone has to admit the amount of anxiety surrounding this feels very similar as it did in the beginning of the pandemic. All of the Facebook and Twitter posts about it don’t seem to make this any easier either. Although, I’m putting my trust in the doctors who handle the case of my immune-compromised family members, I’d be lying if I said I was not anxious about this at all and here is why:

We still don’t know everything about COVID:

COVID is still new, and yes, I’m so over living under the anxiety that we will get COVID. However, one of my biggest concerns is that because COVID is so new, do we have enough information to know that the vaccine is going to work and work well? I do want to note how appreciative that I am to the scientists who are working around the clock to help ensure that this is a safe drug for us to take and that it’s going to be effective. Although, being really real here, everything with COVID seems to change on the daily, still, even though we are coming up on a year of living this COVID normal!

New strains:

As we all have heard by now, there are new strains of the virus in Europe right now. So, will the current vaccines work on the new strains? Also, being that this virus seems to be able to mutate in no time, what about future strains? Or is this something that we are going to have to keep waiting for the new latest and greatest vaccine for? I swear sitting up and night thinking about all these factors can drive someone crazy!

Is it safe for the immune-compromised:

So, being that I have two family members that I’m very worried about getting COVID, my next worry would be is it safe for them to get vaccinated? I mean should we wait and see how others react to it.

These and many more concerns swirl my head and those of others that I have talked to. They are valid, and because COVID is so unknown and unpredictable, I think it makes the worries so much worse. One thing that I will say, for my family and me, we will be listening carefully to the doctors who care for us and will make the best informed decisions we can.

My advice, check your sources but do as much research and make the decision that is best for you and your family. Breathe because one way or another we will get through this confusion, too!!

Stay safe and well!

How A Covid-19 Vaccine Could Ultimately Save The Travel Industry

Various clinical trials are underway worldwide that hope to find an effective vaccine for COVID-19. And although this is a lengthy process, things appear to have picked up the pace over the last few weeks and months, and some of these trials are now producing some successful outcomes. The WHO (World Health Organization) is working closely with various organizations and scientists worldwide to try and bring together all relevant information, data, and trials so that the collective people of the world will soon have a successful vaccine.

COVID-19 Vaccines

A few possible vaccines are currently being developed worldwide, with a few already moving into stage 3 clinical trials, based on some encouraging early data released by potential vaccine producers.

But for now, unfortunately, there is no certainty about when these potential vaccines will be widely available. Therefore each of us must use all the available tools known to be useful right now, such as testing, contact tracing, physical distancing, washing our hands regularly for at least 20 minutes, and using face masks while in public places.

The vaccines under development at the moment teach the body’s immune system to recognize and block the virus that causes COVID-19 safely.

The news that gave us hope!

On November 9, 2020, Pfizer and BioNTech, two of the top runners for a Covid-19 vaccine, reported a 90% success rate in their clinical trials on volunteers preventing those volunteers from contracting the virus.

This fantastic news saw an immediate increase in share prices within the travel industry. Tour operators saw a sharp rise in searches and bookings, and the travel industry finally started to feel that vacations in 2021 would mean people may feel better about traveling once more.

However, it will be some time before the COVID-19 vaccine will be rolling off our shelves, but this exciting news has undoubtedly helped a flagging travel industry.

Travel guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic?

The latest travel guidelines still recommend that social distancing rules are strictly adhered to and show that International travel is still minimal.

So what about travel in 2021? Yes, this could be back on the cards! So long as the vaccine is approved (however, this could take many months), and dependent on the R rate decreasing worldwide. Traveling abroad would depend on what precautions other countries are taking.

Will travel post-vaccine go back to how things were?

Maybe in time, yes! But for now, you must still be cautious and take extra care when traveling. Governments advise people always to make sure before traveling what restrictions are in place in their travel area. You can do this by checking the travel restrictions pages that relate to that area.

For many of us, the thought of using public forms of transport is still quite scary, and this has meant an increase in people wanting to take care of their travel arrangements themselves.

What is the International drivers’ license?

For many people, the safest way to travel during the COVID-19 crisis is in their motor vehicle.

While passenger travel will pick up slowly in 2021 once restrictive measures cease, there is almost certainly an increase in the number of people using the roads. There are far fewer restrictions to traveling in your motor vehicle, or indeed in one that you have rented for the specific task of taking your family on vacation. I mean, you are far less likely to be sitting near someone that could potentially have COVID-19 in your vehicle.

An International Drivers License is a booklet that transforms your own domestic driver’s license into many languages, which then naturally makes it easier for you to take your car abroad on vacation.

The international driver’s license gives you an advantage when traveling overseas because it is widely recognized and accepted by insurance companies. It means you get to drive in new territories without experiencing language difficulties at border crossings and ports.

So, once you have checked all the travel restrictions for the areas that you intend on visiting, you can set off. And with the knowledge that you have the protection and security that your international driver’s license can provide, ll you need to do is relax and have fun!

About The Author

Eve Romley is a psychologist with 6 years of expertise by profession, but she is really passionate about writing, and always curious to learn new things. In her free time, she likes to explore the outdoors and exercise.

Anti-Vaxxer Asks For Measles Protection Advice And The Internet Delivers

An anti-vaxxer mom in Washington recently asked a Facebook group called the Vaccine Education Network how she could protect her unvaccinated three-year-old child from a measles outbreak in her state. To be clear: she didn’t vaccinate her child, and then became concerned about how she could make sure he didn’t get measles. Too bad there’s not already some way to make her child immune to…oh, wait. VACCINES.

Her message read, “My 3 year old is not vaccinated and there is currently a measles outbreak in my state. Any suggestions for precautions I can take to protect her would be very much appreciated.”

Now, there are some cases where a parent can’t vaccinate a child, like when there are immune system diseases present, but this mom didn’t mention any of that, so it seems safe to assume she just chose not to vaccinate.

Anyway, as you can imagine, she got a whole bunch of advice from the group, most of it in the form of sarcasm and dark jokes. Because if a parent won’t listen to doctors and science and instead endangers their child by not getting them vaccinated, what can you really tell them?

People, PLEASE, vaccinate your children!

h/t: Bored Panda