Being social again: Are you vaccinated? It’s new normal! | Latest News Delhi - Hindustan Times
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Being social again: Are you vaccinated? It’s new normal!

ByNaina Arora, New Delhi
Jun 16, 2021 11:10 PM IST

Post the second wave of Covid-19, Delhi-NCR residents say that questions such as ‘Are you vaccinated yet?’, ‘How many doses of vaccination have you received?’, ‘Let’s get a RT-PCR test done before meeting’ have become part of the routine, when getting back to meeting friends and family.

For normalcy is slowly returning, but things have changed and how, especially after the second wave of Covid-19 in 2021. One can’t think of stepping out without masks (usually more than one), sanitisers and the likes. And this has led a panic and/or anxiety seep in those who are trying to get back to their social life, while following the drastically altered norms of ‘new normal’. Questions like ‘Are you vaccinated yet?’, ‘How many doses of vaccination have you received?’, ‘Let’s get a RT-PCR test done before meeting’ seem to have become part of routine, everyday conversations.

Socialising in the new normal has come up with an array of apprehensions, which need a checklist that includes vaccination and RT-PCR test before meeting. (Photo:Shutterstock (For representational purposes only))
Socialising in the new normal has come up with an array of apprehensions, which need a checklist that includes vaccination and RT-PCR test before meeting. (Photo:Shutterstock (For representational purposes only))

Paralympian Deepa Malik recently met her friends after ensuring all Covid safety protocols were in place.
Paralympian Deepa Malik recently met her friends after ensuring all Covid safety protocols were in place.

Paralympian Deepa Malik, who is based in Gurugram, recently met her friends after ages. And her checklist included shots of vaccine, an anti-body test, temperature and oxygen levels, a negative RT-PCR test, and a limited gathering of six people only. Phew! So much to plan a ‘safe’ get together? “My friend, who was the host, is diabetic and had been low because of frozen shoulder. We felt she needed to meet up. And I believe that ‘vitamin friends’ is a special ingredient for mental well-being. But Covid has taught to celebrate lil joys keeping safety in mind. The idea is to be with each other and celebrate our health. So though we hadn’t been able to meet for a long time — as we were waiting for everyone to get vaccinated — but the day we decided to show up to this meet-up, we all got out RT-PCR test done in the morning of the meeting,” she recalls.

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But apprehensions before meeting people has set in, thanks to months of staying in, and fear of contracting the virus or getting yet another bad news. Utkarsha Bansal, a Delhi-based college student, shares how flying kisses is history and double masking is the new normal, just like checking the vaccination status of friends before meeting them. “Despite the relaxation in the lockdown, I haven’t stepped out of my house more than once. With the speculation of the third wave, I personally feel this is the time people need to be even more careful. Most of the city’s population can’t afford the luxury of staying indoors and not working. So, the relaxation in the lockdown were inevitable. However, for those of us who are privileged, the risk of stepping out should not be taken even after getting vaccination. The vaccine reduces the risk of one getting severely affected due to Covid-19, but it doesn’t guarantee full protection. So the risk of getting infected persists. I’ve faced the wrath of the virus once and wouldn’t do anything to put myself at risk again. I can’t get vaccinated before I complete 30-40 days of recovery. But I would surely confirm the vaccination status of my friends before I meet them in these times,” she adds.

The pandemic has not only forced the human race to put their lives on hold, it has subsequently changed the course of socialising. “Today, one can clearly notice many people practising isolation and cutting off their social ties. Talking about going out, I’ve had only few chances to do the same as mostly all communication, personal or with university and other organisations has been transformed to virtual. Of course if I get a chance to go out with friends, a prime concern would be the status of their as well as my vaccination,” says Yashi Vijayvergiya, another college student.

Panicking before socialising? Here’s a tip from expert

“Panicking and being anxious simply means that you are over thinking about a particular topic,” says psychological counsellor and therapist Komel Chadha, adding how people are deriving comfort with digital communication more than physical interactions. She adds: “After seeing surge in the number of deaths during the second wave, expectation of normalcy hardly gets seen. People are still trusting digital mode, in fact many are trying to develop more comfort with it. The biggest challenge is the comfort that has already developed by working from home for more than a year now. People have started creating happiness within four walls. For example, if I’m anxious about an upcoming future event, simply means I am making too many images of something that is about to happen in my mind. If you want to control it, you have to be more mindful — reduce to the number of images you create in your mind about that event — and should rather see visuals of making it more successful, then the anxiety will get controlled.”

Author tweets @Nainaarora8

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