Get vaccinated against COVID-19 and brag about it on your dating profile! ...What?!
If you are having sex, you should automatically practice safe sex, as there is only safe and unsafe sex. because of the many medical technologies we have today, there are many ways to practice safe sex. One method is to use female or male condoms. Every woman who doesn't want to become pregnant needs to use birth control. A third method every sexually active person needs to practice is getting an STD check after every partner.
But now, there is a brand new way to practice safe sex, and that is by getting the covid-19 vaccine! Millions and millions of responsible people require their potential sexual partners to be fully vaccinated before they meet them for a first date or a hookup. If the potential partner does not have their vaccines, they are quickly blocked and forgotten. There is no excuse not to get vaccinated, as Covid spreads through close contact with human beings. Either the potential partner gets the shot, or they will swipe left.
The decimation of dating during Covid
The world of online dating and the world of real dating was completely interrupted by the pandemic. For months on end, tens of millions of single, and not so single, people could not date. At the beginning of the pandemic, it was much too risky to meet up with a stranger. The world knew very little about covid-19, but they did know that it had a two- to 3-week incubation.
Even worse, the virus did not show any symptoms at all in certain people. So someone could be walking around spreading the virus and feel perfectly fine. With such a long time for its symptoms to finally show, there was no way of knowing who had it and who didn't.
If someone were to contract covid-19, they could either end up with a virus that doesn't affect them at all or that puts them in the hospital. And that's only if the infected person lived alone. If they lived with others, unknowingly infected people could infect their roommates and family members.
It turns out that the safety of family and friends is far more important than a hookup, so pretty much everybody on dating sites stopped going out. They still stayed home and flirted with anyone they messaged. But as for meeting up in person, that would have to wait until numbers died down to safe levels or a vaccine was created.
Vaccinate for a date!
After a horrific years, two scientists who emigrated from Turkey to Germany and worked for the German company Pfizer throughout this dark and depressing time created a vaccine. The world rejoiced, and many rich countries began revving up their medical production facilities to get this vaccine out to the public. But vaccinating the public didn't happen quickly.
As long as covid-19 spreads around in the population, meeting with someone face-to-face will always be dangerous. The risk is why it is so important to get the covid-19 vaccine. The virus is much more transmissible than crabs or gonorrhea. You don't even have to come into contact with someone to contract it. All you need to do to contract it is stand in the presence of someone with covid-19 for a few minutes.
As the general population was able to get their vaccines, more and more people added the words "vaccinated" or "got the vaccine" onto their social media profiles. They also added these phrases to their dating profiles. And here is where the divide begins.
Unfortunately, It's more than just a vaccine.
For the people living in the United States, the pandemic quickly turned into an unbelievably political topic. The topic of the virus changed so quickly into a political topic that many people don't even remember when it was simply a health concern. The shift from health to politics makes absolutely no sense. The virus does not care what you believe in. If it finds its way into your immune system, it will infect and attack you. It will not wait to learn about the political or religious beliefs or change its mind once it finds out what country its host is from.
Now that there is a vaccine, the vaccine has become a political topic as well. Perhaps that is the reason why people are adding vaccinations to their online profiles. Receiving the vaccine means that you follow a narrative that is not centered around politics. People who are extremely responsible want to be matched with like-minded people. So they want their dating websites to create a filter that only places them with other vaccinated people. Not only does this protect them from getting the virus from an unvaccinated person, but it also helps them avoid people who are differently-minded about the pandemic.
Asking if someone is vaccinated is now the new way to find someone who aligns with your political beliefs. Before the pandemic, many dating sites members in the United States used to ask the person they messaged if they voted for Trump or not. Now they asked their potential partner if they received the vaccine. And that's the way society goes.
What are online dating sites to accommodate the vaccine status?
Dating sites in the United States and worldwide are indeed adding a vaccination filter and option to their search filters. In addition to this, the dating sites feature vaccinated numbers on the front page for certain locations to encourage other people who aren't vaccinated to get the shot.
Certain sites, like match.com, also placed a large yellow badge on the mini-profile of a person who has the vaccine. This allows other people to see if a person is vaccinated or not without clicking on their profile.
Match.com recently announced that they would allow that many people to rise higher in the search filter and search results than unvaccinated people. So if you are unvaccinated, the only way someone will find you is to search for you on the 10th or 11th page. This will significantly decrease the number of matches an unvaccinated person receives.
Tinder is providing vaccinated members with a Super like badge that will highlight their profile in the search results.
You don't believe? - check it out: click.
Some filters are already improving the percentage of matches a vaccinated person receives. On the website OkCupid, research has found that vaccinated people are 40% more likely than unvaccinated people to receive a match.
JAPAN
For the people of Japan, online dating has seen an exponential boom like never before. Before the pandemic, Japanese people who were looking to get into the dating world and find a romantic partner used mostly face-to-face dating services where the couple would meet the person in public. Now that covid has been around for more than a year, the young population has shifted to online dating services and video dates.
Online dating businesses are analyzing what their members want in a dating service and are responding accordingly. One dating service has created a program where the couple can cook together. Other services create group dating events where over 200 people can join directly from their own homes.
Because of the loneliness of the pandemic and the new interesting online dating, there's been a renewed interest in marriage among young people that are 40. Couples that have been together for a while and never really thought about marriage are now suddenly waiting for lockdowns to end so they can get married. Perhaps the pandemic shifted the thinking of the greater population and showed them what they really valued in life. Who knows? But it seems like the dating life of Japanese people is improving.
UNITED KINGDOM
In England, people using online dating sites, especially younger people, are more likely to choose a vaccinated person to date than an unvaccinated person. UK dating apps are also adding get vaccination stickers to members who prove that they are vaccinated. These Digital stickers were not created by forced mandates from the government, but the government did ask all the online dating sites to partner up together to make dating safer for the population.
Online dating sites in the UK are also giving out free perks like premium features for a couple of months or profile boosts to the vaccinated so that more people can see their profiles. And all of these online dating protection measures are being well-received. A YouGov poll of a couple of thousand adults in the UK revealed that around 30% of vaccinated people would not date someone who is unvaccinated.
CANADA
In Canada, people are video chatting about their potential dates so they can spend time together in the safety of their own homes. Only after they have a few video chats will they meet with the person face-to-face. Many Canadians like video chatting as a first date, and they said that they would continue the practice in the future even after the pandemic is finally over.
For Canadians who have Tinder profiles, there is now a special Tinder feature they can take advantage of. Tender is allowing Canadian profiles to film a 1 to 2-minute video and place it on their profile. So people who are swiping through matches can check out the video and see a person's personality before video chatting with them. Those Canadians say that it is a great feature. Tinder has responded to the positive reviews of this feature and declared that it is now a permanent feature.
MASKS REQUIRED
Along with a covid vaccination, people going out on dates require their new date to wear a mask wherever they go. They do not require them to wear the mask when they are outside, but when they enter a building, that piece of cloth has to go on their face or the date is over. One woman even said that she doesn't like to go into buildings with her dates in case somebody is sick.
Many people are arranging outdoor dates, so they don't have to be inside buildings. It seems like we all are doing whatever we can to avoid getting sick. Vaccinated people can rely on their immune systems to keep them out of the hospital, and Ian vaccinated just doesn't regard the virus as dangerous. They will continue to do whatever they want. Most people who are unvaccinated at this point believe that masks will protect them. Up to a point, a mask will affect the wearer, but as fewer and fewer people wear masks, the less effective a single mask will be. That is why it is so important to get the vaccine.
Will the new omicron variant stop the delicate dating situation in the US?
As of today, November 28th, 2021, a new variant has appeared. The new variant, called Omicron, was discovered in South Africa. No one truly knows where the virus originated. Some people are already saying that the virus originally came from Belgium. But I guess it doesn't really matter where it came from. What does matter is how powerful and contagious it is and if different countries can find people infected with the virus before it spreads to the population.
The United States, Canada, France, Germany, and other countries worldwide are tired of lockdowns. Vaccinated people won't change their plans anytime soon unless the new variant gets out of control. People who are unvaccinated will keep living their life as they have been and hope for the best. But hearing about a new variant when you're just getting back into the dating scene is not encouraging at all.
Conclusion
Getting a vaccination is important to protect yourself, your loved ones, and strangers from the covid-19 virus and its variants. If enough people do not receive the vaccination in time, the virus could mutate into something much more deadly than the virus from March 2020.
Several mutations have already appeared and made their way through large areas of the world. So if you don't want to get the vaccine because of your political beliefs, consider getting the vaccine because you can end up in the hospital, and you'll never date again.
