I absolutely respect your, and everyone else's, desire and right to be safe. So, I completely support anyone who does not feel comfortable with in-person sessions right now.

That said, the idea of what's "safe" is not a black or white issue. Life is inherently risky and our lives are a continuous process of risk assessment, reduction, and management. This is no different.

Sessions are as safe as the people conducting them. If the Domme doesn't know how this all works, doesn't know how to reduce her exposure risk, or how transmission, infection, symptoms, testing, etc. works, then it's less safe to session with Her than with someone who does. Likewise for subs.

Do you have a source? I'm interested in how this is happening.

I'm aware of the likelihood of false *negatives* because people don't understand that the body needs to goes through seroconversion before you yield a positive result, and scientists don't have conclusive data on how long that is for this virus.

I'm going to disagree with you here, Cheyenne.

Discussing numbers isn't fearmongering. And if we're going to enforce a rule about inaccurate data (without being able to cite its accuracy either way), then let's be sure to reprimand "John_Bolton" for his proclamation that it's "perfectly safe", which is most definitely is not.

That is cool you sessioned with her, I believe I have seen some of her videos, and it wasn't like I saw them at a movie theater. I meant business when I watched them.

Good for you guys to take what you feel are proper precautions. I don't think either one of us is a health expert. I am in great shape though. I sessioned with someone who spit in my mouth several times. Still zero evidence showing the effectiveness of masks. If cases are rising and people still get sick, but most areas now mandate masks, then something is off, because I know people would jump all over the chance to point out it is only non masters getting sick, but they aren't.

True we both may not be health experts but taking the proper precautions is what everyone should do. JAMA and many other medical authorities have all come out and said that proper use of a N95 mask is the recommended level of respiratory protection for health care workers who are working with covid19 positive patients with a minimal 90 percent filtration efficiency. The KN95 unfortunately showed only between a 53-85 percent efficiency while surgical mask and ear loops mask only had an efficiency of 37-69 percent. One of my closest friends and former play partner is a dual certified CRNP-CRNA and has been on the front line out in California where she has been intubating positive covid19 patients in the hospital she works. Back when the pandemic started I reached out to her since I had questions. She gave me the same information she had access to. When I told her I had N95 masks she basically told me to save them and to use them but with an outer non-N95 ear loop or tie on mask as a over-mask which is her standard use protocol to preserve the N95 for a longer period. The one thing she told me that had me think was how some of her coworkers are doing a study using chlorhexidine gluconate to swab their nasal passages and using it to rinse their mouths since its an antiseptic used to kill micro-organisms to prevent infections. Whether the study shows it's effectiveness is hard to say.

Yeah, definitely. I would never session with someone coughing. There was a domme whi I had a great session with when she traveled to Florida and I lived nearby. Saw her a few years later in Chicago where she was based and the day of, I get to the address she gave, it's a decent looking apartment in a not spectacular area, but upon calling for the exact address at the appointed time, no answer. Waited, no answer after waiting. I begin leaving. Finally get a call like she just woke up and got the address for an across the street slum. I get inside and she's wearing sunglasses, marks on arms, lost alot of weight in an unhealthy way and the place is trashed. I run out. That's my proper precaution.

My belief is that if a woman is dominant, she would not be susceptible to a virus and therefore it would be insulting of me to ask her to wear a mask. And I wouldn't want her to anyways and I think it would be wrong of me to assume she would conduct a session if even a part of her thought she might have a minor virus.

There has been an unprecedented amount of work related to developing proper protocols, therapeutics and vaccines related to Covid and its impacts on the body. However, it was only 8 months ago that hospitals started seeing and treating cases in the US... and as remarkable as the progress has been, we are still in the extremely early stages of the medical community's eventual solutions.

Everyone mentions "flattening the curve" (which is driven by behavior) but the real work is on "raising the line" of being able to understand and deal with COVID from a healthcare perspective... and most of that is still just in the theory part of its lifecycle. Like you stated, I don't expect Covid to fully go away (or even to have a vaccine that eliminates all variations/mutations) but where we differ is that I expect that by this time next year there will be a "new normal" in healthcare and how COVID-19 is treated.

The prevention and treatment protocols for COVID-19, which is a disease that can be deadly or leave someone with irreversible organ damage, are still in early development. So right now, when those aren't in place and hospitals are being overwhelmed with patients, is the worst possible time to catch the virus... just like catching AIDS in 1985 was incredibly different from catching it today.

As for COVID-19, I agree that your general age and health may play a part in your rolling the dice and winning if you are unfortunate enough to get this disease. It is also true that experts generally agree that 80% of people who get Covid (regardless of age or comorbidities) don't require hospitalization and 45-50% don't even show symptoms (but are still able to infect others). But, I don't think its smart to take the chance that I will be in the 20% just to get my rocks off when the actual infections in the wild are exploding and our healthcare system is about to be overwhelmed.

Finally, I learned an important lesson when I got burned a little earlier in the year because I thought I might have been exposed (I wasn't) and I got tested to find out. But, I did that in the middle of the summer when things were in the 2nd wave and cases were raging out west (but not around me) and it literally took 14 days to receive the results of that test because the labs were pushed past their limits.

How good your care is (if you need it) is partially dependent upon how many resources are available to take care of you. But, that was just a test and there were ICU beds fully available if I was unfortunate enough to need one... So, at this moment, I am taking that lesson to heart and waiting it out before resuming those kinds of activities and I would encourage everyone else to do the same (which is why I posted my statement about shutting it down).

Please explain how "effective" is defined, and the evidence that supports that wearing masks is not effective.

I agree.

I'm Jonesing something AWFUL, but at the same time, I'm a member of two pods involving family members, both of which are more susceptible than I. Setting aside my own personal safety, the only way I'd session would be in a month where I can wait 14 days after Pod 1 (to protect the domme), and then session, and then wait 14 days until I see Pod 2 (to protect them). The first possible window for that is January, and I'll still have to see how things are looking.

Until then, like you, I'm staying Soapy.