Joe: Work, and limited socializing...
Introduction:
Joe is a 35 year-old gay Chinese male living in Newark, New Jersey. In one way, his day to day activity has not changed much during the Covid-19 pandemic. As a retail worker, he must go to work. He may occasionally contact clients outside of work, but most of his duties cannot be done from home. As for his social and personal life, he is limiting time spent with friends and family and developing his cooking skills. When the pandemic is over, Joe says, we can all celebrate better. For now, he suggests everyone follow the rules. Joe wasn't particularly sexually active before the pandemic, but he is having fewer encounters than he was previously. He has a few old friends with whom he is sometimes intimate, but Joe is careful to pay attention to their relative levels of potential exposure to the virus before they spend time together. For example, if a friend has just returned from a business trip, waiting 14 days and getting a Covid-19 test is preferable to meeting right away. Joe spends some time on social media platforms, but finds it difficult to make friends with whom he is comfortable being intimate. For now, in the middle of the pandemic, he doesn't feel particularly eager to meet new people anyways.
Notable Quotes:
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR LIFE GENERALLY?
“I guess, for me, probably just you have to limited your, like, social lifes. And also like, the way of, you going out for, you know, meeting friends. You can't really do any of those any more. And probably like, during the quarantine, you learn how to cook a little bit, now is time to practice.”
“What you need to do everyday doesn't change that much, it's just like, go to work. But however, like, it's just like your social life has been like completely changed.”
HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED HOW OFTEN YOU SEE YOUR FAMILY?
“We don't see each other that often, because you know like, the chances, if we meeting often, it might increase: the chances to catch the virus. So, I think this is a time like everybody really needs to like follow the rules just like do social distancing, and when this is over, then we can celebrate better.”
HOW HAS THE PANDEMIC AFFECTED YOUR SEX LIFE?
“I don't really know, however like, I wasn't really like that sexually active [before the pandemic].”
“[Well, I] have someone who's like, as a friend or you actually, [we] have done it before, then from time to time if [I] know he's kinda safe and, we'll still meet like, you know, a few times a month, something like that.”